3

by James Phelan

“But he might have gotten out somehow?” Sam said. “I mean, we don’t know, right?”

  “We won’t know for sure until our teams sweep the complex.”

  Enterprise Three, we have secured the sea tunnel, moving down to main level, no sign of target.

  Guardian Two, top levels secured, moving down to main chamber.

  Guardian One, all quiet here, we are at the chamber air vents, ready to rappel into chamber.

  “Copy that,” Jack replied. “Proceed with caution.”

  Sam could hardly bear to look at the blurry vision of the dark tunnels. He felt like he’d spent a lifetime in tunnels recently, wondering what might be around the corner, what might go bump in the night.

  Instead, he watched the 3-D model of the assault. The image of the compound was in crisp white lines on the screen, two hundred tiny red dots moving from three sides to converge on the main chamber.

  The blast of explosions made Sam jump.

  He turned to the screens that showed the Guardians’ and Agents’ footage. Most were obscured with dust and debris.

  “Teams, report in!” Jack said.

  The next minute was full of frantic radio calls as all the combined Guardian and Enterprise forces reported that they were OK.

  We tripped some kind of trigger. It was a warning system.

  “Then he knows we’re coming …” Sam said, stepping closer to the screen, watching the helmet cams of the advance party as they crept onward to the main chamber. “I don’t like this.”

  “Scans are reporting that there’s no other movement,” Jedi said, calibrating the 3-D schematic so that it zoomed into closer detail of the chamber. “No movement at all.”

  “That warning might mean Solaris is on the move,” Jack replied. “Perhaps there is some kind of escape route.”

  “I don’t think so,” Lora replied, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sam. “He’s either there or he’s not. And if he’s there, he’ll have a plan.”

  “I’m worried,” Sam said. “Either way, this is dangerous.”

  Sending in some eyes.

  The Enterprise team leader took charge and a new image came up, being beamed back from a tiny camera aboard a small remote helicopter.

  And lighting up the room.

  She tossed what looked like a few tennis balls. Immediately, they began to burn with bright white light, illuminating the room.

  The footage showed a room that was part evil genius workshop, part storage warehouse.

  “It looks like a hospital,” Sam said, his nose almost up against the screen as he looked closely at the detail.

  “There was an abandoned fort on the island before,” Lora said. “It could have been a medical facility.”

  “No,” the Professor said from his vantage point. “This is modern equipment.”

  “Maybe he’s sick?” Sam said.

  “Maybe,” Jack replied. “But one thing looks certain. No one’s home. Enterprise Three, move in.”

  Copy that. Moving in. All teams, follow our lead.

  Sam watched the view from the helicopter hovering above the vast space as two hundred soldiers moved in, searching every corner and blind spot for a threat.

  Enterprise Three, the nest is empty. Repeat, the operation is over—no one’s home.

  “Get as much as you can from the site,” Lora said. “Make sure you take everything that looks like it might—”

  “HAHAHA!” a maniacal laugh echoed throughout Solaris’ chamber, the ear-splitting sound amplified via huge speakers. “You pathetic fools …”

  11

  Sam swallowed hard and backed away from the big screen as though he might somehow get caught up in the action. The feed coming in from the helmet cams showed the Guardian and Enterprise teams were spooked, searching for a threat that they could neutralize.

  “I hope all those watching this little show,” Solaris’ deep, metallic and raspy voice said, “enjoy what comes next.”

  Sam stood frozen, his eyes locked onto the screen, frantically hoping that Solaris was all talk, that the two hundred Guardians and Agents would get out alive and unharmed.

  “ARGHHHH!” Solaris’ scream, a battle cry, boomed out of the speakers and echoed around in the concrete chamber.

  Half a world away, in Jedi’s subterranean tech lab, the terror seemed just as real.

  “No! Get them out!” Sam said, grabbing the microphone from Jedi’s desk and shouting into it: “Everyone, get out! Get out of there!”

  But it was far too late.

  No!

  Sam looked away from the screen as fire erupted everywhere, flashing across the helmet cams in horrifying clarity. It seemed to wash into the room from one of the walls, sweeping over everyone like a wave. Lora let out a gasp and grabbed Sam by the shoulders, holding him tight, trying to shield him from the view.

  Jedi cut the main screen’s audio and video from the site, transferring the visions to his computer monitor, but there was nothing left to see. After a couple of minutes of agonizing silence, he spoke quietly to the Professor and the Director, the three of them desperately trying to contact anyone on the island but to no avail.

  All communication was gone—there was no one left to respond.

  “We’ve lost them,” Jack said, his voice shaky.

  “See?” Solaris’ voice cut in, carving through the air like a knife. “This was just the start. You cannot stop me. I will be the victor. And then you will all bow down to the leader you deserve.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong!” Sam yelled out, his voice full of anger. He came up close to the microphone on Jedi’s desk. “We will meet soon, and I will have the pleasure of smashing that mask from your face!”

  The room was silent. Lora and Jedi were quiet, Jack and the Professor too, stunned by what had just happened.

  Sam was shaking with anger, his fists clenched as though ready to fight.

  “Yes, Sam,” Solaris’ voice scratched over the speakers. “We will meet, and soon. As to who will strike who—”

  “Save it, coward!” Sam said, his neck and face flushed red with rage.

  Solaris chuckled. “I’m a coward, am I?”

  “You’re the one hiding,” Sam countered. “Where are you? Why don’t you come out and fight like a man?”

  “Like a man? I just took out all your hired guns,” Solaris said. “I destroyed all those who might help you. You’re on your own now, boy.”

  “You’re hiding behind your traps and technology and weapons,” Sam said, “using them to do the dirty work for you! If you think pressing a button and killing all those people will stop us, you’re even crazier than I imagined.”

  Solaris’ voice sounded like he was smiling when he rasped, “And where are you, Sam?”

  “I’m at the Academy, waiting for you, and I’m ready,” Sam said, “any time.”

  “You won’t do much good in this race stuck there, will you?” Solaris said. “Stuck in your cage with all the world watching their new pet.”

  “Shut up!”

  “You have to get out of there, Sam,” Solaris went on. “You have to get to Australia, with Eva, and I’d hurry up, or you might find that you’re too late, again.”

  What?

  How does he know …?

  “He’s gone,” Jedi said, tapping away at his computer. “He was transmitting his audio onto the island from a remote location via a satellite uplink. Argh! … I can’t trace it.”

  “Then he could be anywhere in the world,” Jack said.

  “Yes,” the Professor added, his voice heavy, “he could.”

  “No,” Sam said. “He’s on the move, headed to Australia. Or maybe already there.”

  “Sam,” Lora said. “What are you—what was Solaris talking about? About Eva, and Australia?”

  Sam felt the four of them looking at him.

  “Eva has had her dream,” Sam said. “She’s next, she’s number three. And her Gear is in Australia.”

  “I don’t like it,” Jedi sa
id, after Sam had explained the dream and Eva was summoned to the lab to join the discussion. “I mean, how could Solaris have known about the dream?”

  “The recording devices?” Jack said.

  “I turned off the dream-recording devices here as soon as the UN surrounded us,” Jedi said, “in case someone out there broke into the system and saw—well, saw things we’d rather keep secret. Somehow Solaris has managed to do just that. It’s like he’s got some way in that we don’t know about.”

  “Maybe he does,” Sam gasped. “I remember now—back in Denver, just before Solaris attacked, one of Mac’s men said something about a suit being stolen, that Solaris was wearing it. Could that be it?”

  “Do you remember anything else?” Jack asked, leaning forward intently.

  “Only that they called it something specific,” Sam said. “A flage suit, camouflage—no, dreamflage, that’s it!”

  “That certainly sounds like it might be how Solaris has kept up with us in the race,” the Professor said.

  “Some kind of tech that allows him to hack dreams?” Jedi said. “Could Mac have been working on something like that?”

  “He would have had the resources,” the Professor sighed. “It’s possible that there’s been something else in the mix all along that we didn’t know about.”

  The silence in the room was deafening.

  “And if Solaris is a Dreamer,” Lora said, “if he’s trained at steering dreams, at recalling them, at being there and taking it all in, then …”

  “I really do have no hope of beating him,” Sam said, looking at the blank screen, now devoid of life. “Maybe I shouldn’t go out there anymore. Just have my dreams, tell you guys and stay out of it.”

  “It wouldn’t matter,” Jack said. “Solaris would still see your dreams and try to take the Gears from the next Dreamers.”

  “He’s right,” the Professor said. “In some ways, it’s better that you are out there for the race for these final three Gears. At least you can take action on your dream right away when you’re there and hope to stay at least one step ahead of Solaris.”

  “I guess a step ahead is better than a step behind,” Sam said. “Still, I think this revelation just makes things seem even more impossible to win. It’s like I don’t know what to do anymore.”

  “Yes you do, Sam,” Eva said, her voice defiant. “All of us, together, can beat him. And we’re going to start, today, by going to Australia.”

  12

  “Perfect,” Lora said, taking a step back from her creations.

  “Unrecognizable,” Jedi said. “Lora, I do believe that you’ve missed your true calling.”

  Lora smiled at her handiwork. “What, you think I should have been a makeup artist?” she laughed.

  “Or a diguise maker for Hollywood,” Jedi replied.

  “Well, I’m no Clark Kent,” Sam said, looking at himself in the mirror. Lora had dyed his hair black and styled it differently, and he wore black-rimmed glasses.

  “Well, that’s just great!” Eva said. “I look like a geek! A complete dork.”

  Her transformation was more profound. Gone was her messily spiked black hair and heavy black eyeliner and dark lipstick, and in their place was her natural strawberry blonde hair in a ponytail, her face clean save for some lip gloss.

  “Wow, freckles,” Sam teased.

  “Argh, leave me alone!” she said, pushing Sam away.

  “You look … cool,” Sam added.

  “No, Sam, I don’t,” she replied. “And neither do you. You look like you’re part of a lame boy band.”

  Sam appeared deflated.

  “That’s right,” Eva said, “sucks not being who you want to be, doesn’t it?”

  “OK then,” Jedi said, checking his watch. “It’s three a.m., and if you’re going to leave, now’s the time.”

  “We’re ready,” Sam said.

  “The sooner I’m out of here before anybody sees me,” Eva added, “the better.”

  “Remember,” Lora said, leading them to the ventilation tunnel that ran from Jedi’s underground computer lab to a farmhouse ruin on the other side of the lake, “have your Stealth Suits switched to invisible until we’re well clear. We still need to get across the open field beyond the farmhouse, which will be teeming with UN soldiers.”

  “Set them to optical and thermal invisibility,” Jedi said. “They’ll probably have heat scanners set up in anticipation of Stella’s Agents. They’ve got next gen suits like these—without my tweaks, of course. And remember, these prototypes are not ready to be in the field, but we’ve run out of time to test them any more. Treat them carefully!”

  “Right, got it,” Sam said, “See you guys soon.”

  He led the way in a crouched run through the ventilation shaft.

  “And if we get separated,” Lora called out, “head for Sweet Dreams Bed and Breakfast—it’s in town, about five kilometres south of here.”

  “OK,” Sam said as he kept shuffling along in a crouch.

  “How are we getting to Australia, anyway?” Eva asked.

  “With a little help from some friends,” Lora replied.

  Getting past the UN soldiers encamped outside the Academy proved no problem, given the hour. They’d walked through the rows of tents and vehicles, past sleeping soldiers, only a few of whom had drawn night watch and were huddled together, talking and laughing in hushed tones.

  Great. We’re the only thing standing in the way of the dream world being taken over and they’re fooling around like this is some lame training exercise.

  Just as they started to relax, there was a loud growl from behind them.

  “Uh-oh,” Sam whispered. They broke out into a run.

  The dog barked as it chased them. It was a huge thing, a German shepherd, running full pelt toward them.

  “Stealth Suits might make us invisible to the eye and infrared,” Sam gasped, running next to his friends, “but we can still be smelled!”

  “Speak for yourself!” Eva said, running slightly ahead of them.

  “Make it over the fence and we’ll be fine!” Lora said. They hit the chain-link fence, erected by the UN soldiers as an outer security perimeter, at the edge of the farmland. The three of them climbed fast, over the top, and dropped down the other side.

  The dog hit the fence hard, barking and snarling at them.

  “Wow,” Sam said, catching his breath. “That was close.”

  “Hey, who’s there?” a voice boomed.

  The three of them froze as a flashlight washed over them. It was a UN guard on a quad bike. The beam roved over them and found nothing, but it was unnerving to think that even up this close, they were completely invisible. They stood statue-still, not daring to make a sound.

  The dog continued to bark, going crazy while the guard frowned and checked the fence again.

  “Quietly,” Lora whispered, “back away.”

  The three of them walked backwards for five, then ten metres, up through the grassy bank that led to the winding road.

  “OK,” Lora said, still in a whisper. “Let’s take the shoulder of the road into town.”

  Sam looked away from the dog, who was now quiet, chastised by his handler who probably thought it was tracking a rabbit or fox across the field.

  They all kept their Stealth Suits switched to full invisibility, their appearance matching their surroundings until they got into the town.

  They might not be fully tested, Sam thought, seeing the shimmer of his friends as they moved, but they’ll definitely do. Nice one, Jedi.

  “Across the road,” Lora said, unveiling her head from the Stealth Suit’s hood and then switching it to appear like she was wearing casual dark clothes. Eva and Sam did likewise.

  “Follow me,” Lora said, “and stick to the shadows.”

  13

  EVA

  The Sweet Dreams Bed and Breakfast was closed to customers, but a warm orange light glowed inside—a welcoming open fire. Eva cupped her hands to the w
indow and could see two figures close to the crackling fire inside, talking animatedly.

  Lora knocked on the old wooden door, and footsteps immediately hurried to open it.

  “This place is owned by friends of ours,” Lora said. “Past students of the Academy who settled here for a nice quiet life.”

  The door opened.

  Dr. Dark stood there in the shadows.

  We meet again.

  “Lora,” he said, looking up and down the street to make sure the coast was clear. “Something’s just come up. Quick, come in.”

  By the fire was a huge man with well-tanned skin, clear bright eyes and long black hair. He strode over and shook Lora’s hand, then looked at the two teenage Dreamers with what looked like awe.

  “Sam, Eva,” Dr. Dark said, “this is Jabari, the leader of the Egyptian Guardians.”

  “What?” Sam said, stepping back, taking Eva and Lora with him. “The traitors? What are you doing? Are you trying to get us all killed?”

  Wait a minute, this is the guy from my dream. Why was I in a helicopter with him?

  “Please, please,” Jabari said, his voice deep and heavily accented. He came toward them with open hands. “You misunderstand, my friends.” He bowed to them, catching them off guard with this sign of deference.

  “It’s OK, Sam,” Lora said, pulling them back into the room. “Listen to him, please.”

  “I’m sorry, Sam, and Eva, for what some of my fellow Guardians have done in the past. For the sake of all of us, I hope that we can put it behind us.”

  “What? You want us to just forget you tried to blow us out of the sky?” Eva said accusingly. “I’m sorry, but that’s a lot of trust you’re asking for! Why should we believe you’re now suddenly on our side?”

  “You are right, of course. The Egyptian Guardians were the original protectors, the first Guardians sworn to protect the Dreamscape,” Jabari replied. “We believed that stopping the prophecy was the only way to be sure the world would be safe. But now … most of us are gone, trying to stop the madman. These last few weeks as we have failed to prevent the prophecy, we have come to see we were mistaken. That this was not how to save the world.”