by James Phelan
“Group hug!” Gabriella said suddenly, the bubbly Italian grabbing onto Sam and squeezing him, and soon they all were crowded around him, locked in a hug of epic proportions.
“If only the United Nations were this united!” Cody said, tilting his head toward where the armoured trucks would be circling the perimeter outside, keeping watch over them until the world’s leaders could agree on what to do next.
The group laughed and dispersed, finding seats on cobwebbed, rickety chairs and on the floor.
“So, you know you’re famous now, right?” Gabriella asked Sam. She was one of the few members of the last 13 who had been an international superstar before the race had started.
“Famous?” he said innocently.
“Yeah,” she said, “not, like, just around here, but now everyone in the world knows who you are.”
Sam shrugged.
“Maybe he hasn’t seen it,” Issey said, showing him a couple of webpages on his phone. “Since all this went public, the clip of you at the UN has had nearly one billion hits—that’s huge. That’s way more than I’ve ever had!”
“He knows,” Eva said protectively.
“They don’t care who I am,” Sam said, “just what I represent.”
Eva could hear the defensive edge to his voice, all humour now gone.
We have to look after him, help him get to the end of this race.
07
ALEX
“Hey, Mom,” Alex whispered to the screen resting in his lap. His mother, Phoebe, could be seen smiling on the other end of the video call.
“Alex!” she said. “You said you would call me every day. What happened?”
“We, ah, had a little run in,” he said tentatively, “with some pirates.”
“What?!”
“Yeah. It was, ah, well … we’re all OK now.”
“Tell me everything that happened.”
Alex gave his mother the short version of how they had been discovered by a rogue band of pirates at Nan Madol, before being hustled back on to the Ra and locked in a room while the pirates took control of the ship. He left out the part where he narrowly avoided a fight with the giant angry pirate.
“You should have left earlier!” Phoebe said, exasperated.
“Mom,” Alex said, “I told you, it was no big deal. I didn’t get this from the pirates,” Alex said, pointing to the small graze still visible on his forehead. “That was from when the drones attacked the ship.”
“A drone attack?!”
Oops.
“Oh, right …” Alex said. He calmly explained again, this time describing the voyage prior to when the pirates took over, when the Ra was fired on by Stella’s missiles—the very reason for pulling into port for repairs in the first place.
“OK, I’ve heard enough. You’re coming home and that’s an order, Alex,” Phoebe said fiercely.
“But I have found out more information,” Alex said. “We’re heading to Antarctica. I dreamed it—Hans did too. Did you know I have been having recurring dreams that I couldn’t recall for years, about Antarctica?”
Phoebe was silent, staring at him.
“Mom?”
“No, we didn’t,” Phoebe confessed. “But that could also be because it might not be true. Hans will say anything to get—”
“Mom, I want to stay,” Alex said.
Phoebe looked at her son, and could see how much it meant to Alex to be there, doing something he felt was important in the race. Without saying anything, she gave a slight nod of her head. “OK, so, tell me the itinerary,” Phoebe said.
“We’re docking at a city called Christchurch in New Zealand,” Alex said, “taking on supplies, and loading some special equipment that is being flown in to meet us there. They’ve cleared the stern deck of everything but the load crane. You could fit a helicopter on there now. Then onto Antarctica, I guess.”
“OK, call me again tomorrow. And, Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Good work out there.”
He smiled sheepishly. “Thanks, Mom.”
Christchurch was a cold and beautiful city. Alex wandered the city streets, grateful to spend time on solid ground. He was shadowed by two burly German Guardians who were always close by, watching him, watching out for him. They’d even presented Alex with his very own German Guardian Stealth Suit in thanks for freeing them from the pirates. Glancing at his watch, he saw it was time to head back.
At the waterfront, the Ra was sitting lower in the water, and Alex could immediately see why—on the stern deck, in the space that had been cleared out, was a huge mass covered in tarps.
“Wow,” Alex said as they walked along the pier to their berth. “Is that a helicopter or something?”
“Or something,” the Guardian replied.
“A plane?” Alex said.
“No,” the Guardian said.
“You’re getting colder, Alex,” the other Guardian said, and the two of them chuckled.
“Hmph,” Alex replied, walking the gangplank to board the boat. The rest of the Guardians and crew were loading the last of the provisions. Hans was making sure the straps were secure on the mystery piece of cargo.
“What’s that?” Alex asked him.
Hans stood, signalling for the crew to finish up and push off. “It’s our ticket to another world,” he replied with a cryptic smile.
“What,” Alex said, “it’s a space rocket?”
“Something like that,” Hans said.
“Hmph …” Alex was really intrigued now.
What can it be?
“You’ll find out soon enough—a little surprise every now and then is good for you,” Hans said, laughing.
08
EVA
“The numbers don’t lie,” Gabriella said, waving her own phone, still obsessing over Sam’s fans. “Look! It’s just passed one billion, wow.”
“They’re interested in the idea of me,” Sam said, “but this is hard for the world to understand. To them I’m either some kind of superhero or a delusional freak.”
“Yeah, I guess,” agreed Cody. “I guess it was hard for all of us to come to terms with the truth, about Dreamers and the prophecy and the race.”
Eva couldn’t help herself, the thoughts of Cody’s surrogate parents and what happened in Denver springing into her mind. “Cody! I don’t think you can really talk—”
“Cody’s right, though,” Sam interrupted. “At first, most of us couldn’t believe what was happening, and we were the ones having the nightmares. So how can the world get it?”
He’s right, how can anyone possibly understand what this really means.
Eva could see everyone frowning in thought as she was, considering the significance of what Sam was saying. The room stayed quiet for what seemed like a long time.
“Still, you are famous now,” Xavier said brightly, breaking the silence. “That’s pretty cool.”
They all laughed again.
“Won’t it be harder for you to do what you need to do,” Zara asked, “with all the attention and everyone knowing what you look like?”
“Very hard,” Arianna said.
“But it will be hard for Solaris too,” Eva suggested. “And Stella and her Agents.”
“Anyone else noticed that all the Guardians are gone?” Maria asked.
“Yeah, since yesterday,” Rapha said. “I’ve not seen one.”
“Maybe they don’t trust them anymore,” Xavier said. “And you can imagine why. They’ve had groups of them turning traitor and someone’s been passing information about Sam to Stella this whole time.”
“Sam, ever since your announcement in New York,” Issey said, “the UN have been clueless about what to do.”
“Maybe they are waiting to be driven by their own dreams?” Poh said.
“Look,” Sam said. “I think …” he paused as if trying to sort out all the conflicting thoughts in his head before continuing. “I think it’s always been up to us. That much hasn’t changed t
his week. There’s a reason why we are all sitting here in this cold basement, why we all feel so free to say whatever comes into our heads. Because, at the end of the day, you guys are who I can trust … and count on. The rest we can deal with when it happens.”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s do it!”
“We can do it.”
“The only solution the world has come up with so far is to keep us here, ‘protected’ by the UN,” Sam said. “They believe they’re doing the right thing. But we all know that can’t work. And the Professor knows that too. This race can’t be stopped and we can’t be in this race if we all sit around here.”
“But what can we do?” Zara sighed. “We did not have time to find the missing Gears in the Doors.”
“That’s right,” Xavier said. “And we never did get to try out some more superhuman abilities in the construct.”
“Bummer,” laughed Cody.
But Eva wasn’t laughing. She was remembering the horror of watching Xavier having his chest pounded as the Doors doctors fought to bring him back to life. Thank goodness they’d managed it with barely a moment to spare.
We nearly lost him then.
“I know the Doors was a huge disappointment,” Sam said, “but I’m sure we’re all glad that everyone got out of Solaris’ ambush in one piece, Gears or no Gears.” He glanced at Xavier as the others gave him thumbs up and smiled.
“Please, please,” Xavier grinned, “enough about me, actually no, not enough, keep going!”
Everyone jeered good-naturedly as Xavier pretended to be offended.
“Anyway,” Sam continued, “we’ve got to stay on track, and it’s time for some of us to get moving again.”
“Yes?” Rapha said.
“But the UN will never let any of us just walk out of here,” Issey said.
Eva smiled. “Then we’ll just have to sneak out,” she said.
“Right,” Sam said, grinning too. “Oh, and Eva has some other news.”
“You’ve found the Dream Gate?” Maria called out.
The whole group burst out laughing.
“No, not quite that,” Eva said. She looked at Sam, who gave her a small nod of encouragement. “But I have kinda found the next Gear, sort of.”
The faces around the room were a mixture of relief, happiness and shock.
“I’ve had my dream,” Eva said. “I’m number three.”
09
SAM
No sooner had Sam returned to his dorm room after the group went their separate ways for the night, still excited about the news of Eva’s dream, than there was a knock at his door. He opened it, expecting to find one of his friends there, but instead he saw Lora.
“Ah, hi, Lora …” Sam said, a little sheepish, thinking now that maybe he should have thought to ask her along to their impromptu gathering.
“Sam, we have news on Solaris,” Lora said.
“Good news?”
“It’s something you’ll want to see.”
“Now?”
“Yep.”
“OK, sure,” he said and followed her out.
They walked out of the dorm building and across the damp grass, and Sam very soon realized that they were heading toward the rowing shed, to Jedi’s lab.
“They’re still buzzing around,” Sam said to Lora, gesturing up at the night sky and the flashing lights of helicopters. Media choppers from all over the world were competing for air space, all flying as close as they could to the UN-enforced no-fly zone over the campus in the hope of snapping photos of the last 13.
“Yep,” Lora said. “And we’re about to give them a new page one story tomorrow.”
Sam wondered what she meant by that as they entered the boathouse and walked to a heavy steel door. Lora entered a numerical combination and then a thumbprint on a shiny security scanner and the door hissed open.
That’s new. Jedi normally just leaves the door open … looks like we’ve got beefed-up security everywhere now.
“So, what’s this news?” Sam asked Lora as they walked down the steep stone staircase.
“You’ll see,” she replied.
With each step, Sam’s anxiety grew.
Don’t be stupid. Solaris wouldn’t be down here. They would have said something if they captured him … wouldn’t they?
Sam settled his breathing and tried to relax.
“Are they ready?” he could hear the Professor’s voice asking from around the darkened doorway.
Sam entered Jedi’s computer lab and could see that the head of the Academy was not actually in the room—he was on a television monitor. On another screen was Jack, the Enterprise Director, looking tense as he spoke quietly to someone off-screen. Jedi was at the controls, wearing an earpiece. It was just him, and now Sam and Lora, in the room.
OK, so no Solaris. I knew I was being stupid … but, phew.
“They are on station,” Jack said, looking directly at them now. “We are ready for go.”
“I’ve just had confirmation from the field commanders, patching in audio now,” Jedi said. “The teams are arriving at their locations.”
On the wall in front of Sam a new screen had been installed. It was the biggest television screen he had ever seen, divided into several frames, all showing grainy video footage. The largest frame in the centre of the screen showed an overhead shot of an island chain, the main island labelled Island X.
Surrounding that video link were ten smaller frames, each showing a very similar island scene of sand and green foliage, but all from slightly different perspectives. The images jerked shakily as though they were being captured by cameras held by people on the move.
Ten people, all moving fast … what is this?
“What’s going on?” Sam asked.
“Ah, Sam,” the Professor said, leaning forward on the screen as if to see further into Jedi’s control room. “I didn’t see you arrive. I am very glad you are here.”
“Sam,” Jack said from his screen, “we’ve tracked Solaris to this island location. What we are seeing right now is the real-time feed from a combined force of Agents and Guardians.”
“All the people we could spare, from every corner of the globe,” the Professor added. “Almost two hundred personnel.”
That’s where all the Guardians have gone.
“Two hundred, converging on an island,” Sam said, unsure he was hearing right, “to get Solaris?”
“That’s right,” Jack said. “We’ve split our troops into three teams and they are about to assault the hideout.”
“Solaris has a hideout?” Sam said.
“He has to sleep somewhere,” Jedi grunted.
“Through an extensive covert operation, we tracked him to this location,” Jack replied. “We’ve been monitoring the island and saw him enter the location at 1600 hours, local time. He’s still there.”
“Wow, finally …” Sam said, his heart beating fast now. Lora stood by his side watching the screen intently, lips pressed together nervously. Sam looked from one video feed to the next, and it was clear now from the points of view that each camera was mounted on a helmet.
This is Guardian One. I am on station and ready for entry.
Guardian Two. We have eyes on the site, ready for operation in ninety seconds.
Enterprise Three. Designated target building in sight. On station in sixty seconds.
We read you, team leaders. Proceed with caution. Repeat, proceed.
Guardian One, copy that.
Guardian Two, mission’s a go.
Enterprise Three, moving in now.
Sam watched as the screen flickered and switched to show more and more separate frames, now projecting the vision of over thirty helmet cameras. He saw that both Guardians and Agents were dressed in camouflage combat uniform with helmets, goggles and bulletproof vests.
“What are they going to do when they catch Solaris?” Sam asked, looking at his two friends in the room. Neither Jedi nor Lora answered.
“I
mean,” Sam said, “it doesn’t really look like they’re there to catch Solaris.”
“Sam,” the Professor’s voice said over the speakers, his face looking grave on the small screen, next to an equally serious Jack. “We must stop Solaris whatever way we can.”
“But, you can’t kill him …” Sam said, confused. He looked to all their faces for agreement. “I mean, we need him to tell us what he knows. What if he’s hidden the Gears he has somewhere other than there? How will we find them? And killing him in cold blood will only make us as bad as him—won’t it?”
“Sam,” Jack said. “I understand your sentiments. We all have to make tough choices sometimes. There is no direct order to execute Solaris. But if we are faced with the choice between one life and that of potentially thousands, or even millions, which are at risk if he prevails, then I’m afraid we are really left with no choice at all.”
10
Sam watched the operation unfold via the live footage being beamed from the field. Overhead imagery from small drone aircraft showed the three teams converging, two overland and one via the water, toward a small hut on the coastline.
“That’s his hideout?” Sam said.
“That’s the entrance,” Jedi replied. He tapped a few commands on a touch screen and brought up a 3-D schematic of the island, zooming in on the hut, which was little more than a gateway to another world—a subterranean world. A maze of concrete tunnels snaked under the hut, leading to a massive chamber the size of a basketball arena.
Guardian One, breaching front door.
Guardian Two, entering air shaft.
Enterprise Three, scaling seawall, water entry in sight.
Sam looked at the images from the helmet cams that now switched to green-coloured night vision as the soldiers entered the underground world of Solaris’ lair.
“Do we know for sure that Solaris is there?” Sam asked.
“A seaplane landed at the dock, which we had tracked from his last appearance.”
“And you’re sure it’s him?”
“We had satellite imagery four days ago of him getting on the plane, and it’s stayed put at the dock all week.”