Victor Pelevin: Helmet of Horror

Monstradamus

What is the separator labyrinth?

Ariadne

It’s a kind of plate with wavy slits in it located in the region of the forehead, in front of the entry chamber of the horns of plenty. The separator labyrinth is the most important part of the helmet of horror. It’s the place where everything else is produced out of nothing, that is, the place where the stream of impressions arises. And it’s also the place where the past, the present and the future are separated. The past moves upwards, the future moves downwards, and the present, in the form of the stream of impressions, falls on to the outer surface of the frontal net, generating the cycle’s passionate desire to recur, so that it becomes a kind of perpetuum mobile .

Monstradamus

Hang on a moment. The bubbles of hope are just another state of past, right?

Ariadne

Yes, that’s the way I understood it.

Monstradamus

But after they break, you get past, present and future?

Ariadne

That’s right.

Monstradamus

That means it’s past that decomposes into past, present and future?

Ariadne

In actual fact the whole cycle is simply the circulation of now in various states of mind, in the same way that water can be ice, or the sea, or thirst.

Monstradamus

But how does the stream of impressions arise in the separator labyrinth?

Ariadne

Under the force of circumstances.

Monstradamus

I see. But no, hang on. The separator labyrinth is inside the helmet?

Ariadne

Yes.

Monstradamus

You said the stream of impressions falls on to the outer surface of the helmet. But how can that happen, if it arises inside?

Ariadne

I asked about that too. The dwarf laughed and said that was merely an apparent contradiction. The point is, he explained, the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ I was talking about have no existence in themselves. They are generated in the separator labyrinth by the force of circumstances and from there they enter the horns of plenty, where they enrich the past, transforming it into the state of bubbles of hope. But since there is no ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ anywhere except in the horns of plenty, the stream of impressions can quite easily arise inside the helmet and fall on to it from the outside. And the same applies to everything else as well. But the dwarf warned me that I should never under any circumstances regard anything as real. The entire phenomenon is induced, like the electromagnetic field in a transformer.

Monstradamus

Aha. Then what is Tarkovsky’s mirror?

Ariadne

It’s a small, fogged-up mirror set at an angle of forty degrees between the region of the future and the now grid. When the bubbles of hope entering from below are reflected in it they appear to be further along the line of their course than they are, which gives rise to the feeling that the line actually exists.

Monstradamus

I see. And why is the separator labyrinth the most important section of the structure?

Ariadne

Firstly, it’s where the stream of impressions arises. Secondly, it’s where ‘I’ and ‘you’, good and bad, right and left, black and white, so on and so forth and everything else arises. The dwarf said this part of the helmet of horror is the most important and it hasn’t changed for thousands and thousands of years. Then just at that moment a ray of sunlight lit up a poster hanging beside the board. It showed a Cretan coin with a diagram of a labyrinth stamped into it. Most opportune, said the dwarf, that is the separator labyrinth. Its appearance is very distinctive. It has a cross section at the centre, which is reached immediately after entry, and numerous parallel paths running around the cross which seem at first to lead you off into the unknown but then come full circle. This is the most widespread image of the labyrinth, the one that is repeated on almost all the antique coins and drawings. The scanned projection of this labyrinth is a straight line, which means that once you’ve entered it there’s no way you can get lost or find your way out. And that means we can regard the horns of plenty, the now grid, the separator labyrinth, the past and future as different sections of one and the same continuous route, which no one is actually following.

Monstradamus

Why are the horns of plenty called that?

Ariadne

Because they contain all sorts of everything – tender feelings, sidelong glances, exalted words, final thoughts and everything else. A genuine treasure house or rubbish tip. But all this infinite variety actually consists entirely of past. As far as I could understand it, the horns of plenty operate like enrichment units in a chemical plant. When it’s driven through them by the force of circumstances, past gets mixed up with everything else, becoming richer and acquiring value, with the result that bubbles of hope are produced in the occipital braid, go gurgling through the region of the future, are reflected in Tarkovsky’s mirror and perceived as the novel freshness of a brand new day.

Monstradamus

For a while now I’ve been getting the feeling something’s not right here, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it. Right, now I think I’ve got it! Who are they perceived by?

Ariadne

Who? By Asterisk, of course.

Monstradamus

That’s it! But where is he, this Asterisk? The way I understand it, this helmet is arranged so you can’t even squeeze your fist inside it, never mind your head. I don’t suppose you asked about that?

Ariadne

No, I didn’t, the dwarf told me himself. Asterisk comes into being in the same place as everything else. In the separator labyrinth.

Monstradamus

And then what?

Ariadne

And then the force of circumstances induces him to enter the horns of plenty, he gets mixed up with everything else, is enriched and returns to the now grid in the form of bubbles of hope.

Monstradamus

You don’t understand. I want to know about the subject of perception of all this xxx. Its ultimate subject. Can’t you understand that? Where is he?

Ariadne

I really don’t understand what an ultimate subject of perception is. But there can’t be any doubt that he must be in the horns of plenty, because there just isn’t anywhere else.

Monstradamus

Then where does he come from?

Ariadne

From the separator labyrinth. Like everything else.

Monstradamus

Then what’s the point of the whole business?

Ariadne

I don’t know.

Monstradamus

All right. Let’s try it a step at a time. Where does perception arise?

Ariadne

It’s produced in the separator labyrinth.

Monstradamus

From what?

Ariadne

From the past. It was there in the past, wasn’t it?

Monstradamus

It was.

Ariadne

Then why should it suddenly disappear from the present and the future?

Monstradamus

Where’s Nutcracker got to? I can’t make sense of all this on my own.

Nutscracker

I’m following your discussion with intense interest.

Monstradamus