9.

After consulting with The Crystal, David started packing his bags. He had been reminded that his father had set out on the same track not too long ago, and was calmed by knowing that he would be taking his glowing-arrogant-crystallised-father GPS with him. The same GPS that told him exactly what to pack for his big trip too. Most of the stuff, apart from clothing, belonged to Gerald. He told his son to take the following:

* Gerald’s 65L backpack

* Gerald’s shabby but still working tent

* Gerald’s sleeping bag

* Gerald’s sleeping pad

* Gerald’s trekking poles (optional)

* Gerald’s camping stove

* Fuel for aforementioned camping stove

* Source of fire: lighters and matches

* Gerald’s water filter

* Refillable water bottles, possibly Gerald’s hydration bladder

* A Swiss knife, personally gifted to David by Gerald

* Gerald’s paracord (rope, he had to clarify to his son)

* Downloaded maps on his phone

* Gerald’s compass

* A power bank

* A first aid kit

* Trash bags

* Notebook

* Gerald’s rock hammer

* Gerald’s protective gloves

* Essential clothing:

* Base layers

* Fleece jacket

* Hiking pants

* Waterproof clothes

* Headwear

* Food (mostly canned)

* Dehydrated meals

* Nuts, dried fruits and meats

* Energy and protein bars

* Pasta and rice meals

* Electrolytes tablets

‘’You can never be too careful, especially at this time of year. Winter has just ended, but it still lingers like the heat of steaming red coals of a fire that has just gone out,’’ Gerald had said after making sure his son had written all the essentials down.

David was never even aware his father had all that stuff lying around. He remembered his old man liked camping, but had not seen him go out for a trip in years. The only trips his father ventured out on were work trips, and David was about to follow in the footsteps of the most recent one.

10.

The following morning, David woke up early. His flight left early in the afternoon, but there were still plenty of essentials to be bought.

David finished packing by 09:00, which gave him a few hours to get ready for his flight. His mother had taken the day off. She was awfully quiet this morning, even more so than usual. They got in the car, and by the end of the ride, not many words were spoken. Anne looked at her son as if she had something important to say but looked away every time he met her glance. The words seemed to stray from her thoughts when she saw the face that looked so much like his father's. When David finally got out of the car, Anne grabbed his arm, looked him intensely in the eyes and said

‘’Please be careful. I know how much he meant to you, but please don’t repeat his obsessive whirlpool.’’

David's eyes widened briefly with shock but fixed his expression right away. She could not possibly know what he was up to. Gerald never mentioned the Patagonia Mountains to David before, and surely not to his mother. Not that he could remember. He couldn’t be sure, but now was not the time to ask.

‘’I won’t Mom, I promise,’’ David replied. They hugged and held each other briefly before David set off to his terminal.

Once he reached customs his soul left his body for a split second. He realised he had to declare the glowing glimmering bottle-sized shard in his bag and panicked. His bag was already on the conveyor belt. When he was called to walk through the detector nothing happened, but shortly after his bag was put aside.

‘’May we look inside your bag, sir?’’

‘’Certainly,’’ David responded, seemingly coolheaded.

The employee instantly grabbed hold of the crystal and examined it thoroughly. In that instant, David wondered if he connected with his dad but hoped for the best. His dad had to be smarter than to reach out to the worker if there even was a way of distinguishing between people, but all David could do now was wonder. To David’s relief, the crystal did not glow up.

‘’Is there any reason in particular why you’re travelling with this crystal sir?’’

If David’s life were to take place in a cartoon, a lightbulb would now be appearing above his head.

‘’To redirect all the negative energy that people emit while travelling. People are full of anger, and a suppressed and tense environment like this overflows with negative aura. It affects my mental and spiritual health. The crystal is therefore essential to my travels,’’ David rambled on, with the speed of a con artist proclaiming to be a truth sayer.

‘’Alright then,’’ the employee responded, trying his hardest not to sound judgemental.

11.

Having finally calmed down, David went to his gate and waited patiently for boarding to start. After sitting down, he thanked all the gods he could think of for how the interaction with customs went down. He pondered how his father experienced the situation, being linked with the employee, if he had experienced it at all, and quickly put the thought to rest. He decided to ask once he landed. Gerald had instructed his son to connect with him once he had reached the hotel room close to Tucson Airport.

5 short hours of flying passed, and David had reached his first destination. Customs did not feel the need to reassess his bag, and he was quickly out of the airport and checked into his hotel room. It was a spacious room with a king-size bed and a nice view overlooking Tucson’s highway. David ordered room service and took a shower before consulting with The Crystal. Fully refreshed and ready for bed, he took the crystal from his bag and connected with Gerald.

‘’Well done son, ‘spiritual health’ eh? Very clever, no sane person on earth would want to continue that conversation.’’

‘’Right. So you did catch on to my customs Hail Mary,’’ David responded.

‘’Certainly did. Impressive and quick-witted. That’s my son.’’

‘’How do you distinguish between me and another person anyway? Do you deliberately choose when to connect? I did not get the chance to ask yet, so how do you experience things in there? There don’t seem to be eyes in the crystal you’re imprisoned in, so how does it work?’’

After seeming to laugh, Gerald responded ‘’I will answer all of your questions in time, your curiosity is only natural. Let me start by saying I don’t see, hear, taste or smell per se, but I feel. Once I am connected to a person I can deliberately choose to communicate and make myself present. When I am connected to a person through touch, I experience through them.‘’

‘’Right, okay. So that implies that you need physical touch with the object to ‘wake’, so to say,’’ David responded while scratching his head.

‘’Yes, for now. However, when you pick up where I left off this will be one of the crucial ‘bugs’ you will be fixing.’’

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

‘’if I pick up where you left off. What you have done is beyond insane. You have wasted your last decade, in return for being imprisoned in a crystal. An act that I, for many reasons, don’t support. If you had been around, I’m sure you would have known. Regardless, you brought me into this situation which unfortunately does not give me a choice but to find out for myself.’’

‘’Plenty of time for discussion,’’ Gerald started. ‘’We have got a big journey ahead of us. We’re headed towards the border of Mexico. It will be close to a 2-week trip. Sleep is of the essence tonight, as it will be the last comfortable night for quite some time. In the morning, you will take a cab towards the Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead about 20 miles southeast of Tucson. From there, we will start our journey.’’

‘’And what if I decide against your wish?’’

‘’Then my life’s work will have been in vain. But even so, that would be your choice. And I would have no other option but to respect that.’’

David thought his dad was asking for the impossible, not even regarding the big mission but more so a comfortable night's sleep. He figured he’d be up all night, thinking over the week ahead. Fortunately, this tired him out quicker than he could wish for and he fell into a deep slumber. The last one for quite some time.

12.

When David awoke the following morning, he did exactly as instructed. He reached the Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead by 09:00, after enjoying a luxurious breakfast and a comfortable cab ride. The cave is located south of the starting point, and according to his father, he could follow trail tracks for the first half. This would consist of approximately 60 (relatively speaking) breezy walking kilometres, David thought. He was let down by his expectations within the first 3 kilometres. The start of the trail was much steeper than he initially accounted for. Carrying around 18kg on his back, it would not be breezy at all.

The crystal had been strapped to his belt, so his father would always be within reach. For the first 10 km, he did not feel the need to connect with his father. The less contact, the better. He had turned his phone off, and would only activate it when in absolute need of navigational assistance.

The track flattened out after the first elevation. It offered David a panoramic view of a desert landscape with several individual mountains lurking from a distance. The path was rocky and dry with the exception of a little water stream now and then. It was a bushy landscape, without variety in vegetation. The occasional cactus bush jutted out on the path, and David needed to be careful not to scrape his clothing on day 1. Other than that the road was very safe and clear of hinderances. Regardless of his disapproval, he had to admit it was a perfect starting point.

After walking 15 kilometres, and gaining almost 1 kilometre in height the track split into two. David took the one that headed south, but not before checking with his belted crystal GPS first. The direction was all they spoke of. Another 5 kilometres without speaking passed by, and twilight started to creep in.

According to The Crystal, it was best to set up camp before dark. David reached a small grove with soft ground and decided this would be his refuge for the night. He hadn’t set up a tent since he was a kid, so naturally, he was a little rusty. Regardless, he refused to ask his dad for advice. It was an old tent with more poles than he saw the use for. It ended up taking him a very frustrating hour.

The camp was set up just in time, for his stomach started alerting all lifeforms nearby. Having snacked tactically throughout the day, he wasn’t starving yet but some warm food would be welcome. David looked at the limited menu that his bag had to offer and started his first night with warmed-up beans fresh from the can. His water pouch was still filled up halfway through due to the filtered water stop earlier that afternoon.

Despite his situation, David felt content with the first day and looked over the broad horizon. The first stars started to gleam through and by the end of his meal, they had taken over completely and covered the limitless ceiling known as the sky.

He grabbed the crystal and connected with his father to talk the next day through. After the necessary words were exchanged, David put the crystal down. Before he did so, Gerald asked David how he was feeling, to which he, not surprisingly, received no response.

The temperature dropped rapidly close to 3 degrees Celsius, which required him to put on an extra layer. David crawled into his tent, zipped up tight and fell asleep shortly after. It was similar to sleep when suffering from a fever, but at least it was a sufficient 8 hours. When he woke up, he felt more refreshed than he had expected to and broke down camp. Judging from the most beautiful sunrise he had ever seen, it was about 07:00 a.m. He checked his watch and found himself to be correct.

Proudly, he marched onwards heading south once more.

2 hours later he was well on his way and had a brief moment of realisation that the silence and isolation satisfied him. He had only passed a total number of 3 people in his trek so far. Being alone with his thoughts felt different out in the wild, where he was sure no one could bother or even reach him. More hours passed, and the landscape started to become rockier. More vegetation surrounded David and elevation began to rise again. Higher peaks started to show in the distance, and snowy tops appeared like icy hats on the mountaintops. Freshwater streams passed David by more frequently, and the horizon appeared and disappeared constantly with every climb and descent.

His daily beef jerky stash started to run out, and the sun was slowly but steadily on its way down towards the horizon. The track was still clearly visible, but would soon begin to fade. Once David started climbing his last hill of the day, golden hour kicked in. The weather had been extremely fortunate. The second half of the golden hour broke through when he reached the top of the hill. The last moment of golden hour almost feels like a perfect silence, especially in a deserted area like this. When it had reached its end, David had finished setting up camp. It took him half of the time he needed yesterday.

David took a moment to reflect on his day and realised he hadn’t spoken to anyone. He decided, alongside the silence ending of golden hour, to break the silence with his father.

He wanted to speak but did not know where to start. He was already holding the crystal. Gerald noticed him struggling but patiently waited for David to find his footing.

‘’We’re about 45 kilometres in, the landscape is starting to roughen up,’’ David started. ‘’I think tomorrow we will reach the end of the path. I hope your memory has been unscathed by the experiment because I will need your help tomorrow. South is not going to be sufficient information anymore I’m afraid.’’

‘’You have done very well today, David,’’ Gerald responded, not quite knowing what to say either. He continued ‘’I guess all those camping trips as a kid came in useful after all.’’

David noticed his father’s attempt at making conversation but didn’t engage.

‘’You do know where we’re going tomorrow, right?’’ David started again.

‘’Yes. Taking into consideration that you have remained on the path, which seems to me like you have, then I will be able to guide us further once the track ends.’’

‘’Okay..’’ David paused, and then after a while suddenly asked ‘’Was mom aware of your experiment?’’

‘’What makes you say that? Do you think she would let me go through with it and not warn you? Of course, she wasn’t,’’ Gerald said, in defence of his neglected wife.

‘’Well, when I told her about the Patagonia Mountains she acted weird. And then when I left the car, she grabbed my arm and asked me not to repeat your ‘obsessive whirlpool’.’’

‘’Oh god. I am sorry, I should have told you.’’

‘’So she knows?’’

‘’No, however, she did know about my trip to the mountains. She did not know what the trip was for, and never in a lifetime where it would lead. She was infuriated that I took a ‘vacation’ and left you two behind after spending so little time at home.’’

‘’Understandable. Mom always told me you went on a business trip to spare me, but ironically so you actually were on a business trip.’’

‘’I’m sorry,’’ Gerald responded again.

‘’No, you’re not. You have actively made all of your choices believing you could make up for it once you turned into a damned crystal. It’s not the same, dad. And it never will be. No matter what form of inanimate object you put yourself in, we will never be able to feel the warmth a wife needs from her husband, or a son from his father.’’

This stung Gerald in a way that made him realise that even as a crystal, he could experience human emotions.

‘’You’re right. For us, it will never be the same. But think of all the people for whom it will be different too, positively speaking. People who will lose their loved ones to disease, or mental illness. They get to have the chance to extend their relationship, even if ever so limited. For now. You can help with the evolution, crystals are just the beginning. I’m but a mere prototype.’’

‘’Let me ask you a question: are you sentient when there’s no physical touch?’’

‘’No, it’s a deepened state of slumber. Similar to death. But I’m sure you will be able to fix that in ongoing vessels if you keep experimenting. Why do you ask?’’

‘’Curiosity. I want to have a better understanding of what horror I will be contributing to.’’