6

by James Phelan

  ‘You’re a regular Hansel and Gretel,’ Shiva said.

  At the end of the tunnel Alex pushed through the hatch and helped his friend through.

  ‘You look like you’ve been working in the coal mines,’ Shiva said.

  ‘You know, when I was a kid and had daydreams of working “undercover”, it was more in a secret spy, James Bond type of way,’ Alex said. ‘I never figured I’d be literally sneaking around under a city.’

  ‘That’s why one must be careful, and precise, in what one wishes for, my friend,’ Shiva chuckled.

  ‘Yeah, well, you don’t look so shiny yourself,’ Alex teased back. ‘So what were you gonna be when you grew up?’

  ‘Me? Well, apart from being an international singing sensation, I’m actually living the dream,’ Shiva smiled.

  ‘You know, Gabriella’s one of the last 13, you should ask her for advice,’ Alex said. ‘But in the meantime, don’t give up your day job!’

  ‘A good tip, my friend, but for now, let me see about this hook-up,’ Shiva said as they arrived back at the main control panel. He flicked the switch—

  Sparks flew and Shiva was blown backwards across the room.

  ‘Whoa!’ Alex said, helping Shiva to his feet. ‘You OK?’

  Shiva nodded. The soles of his shoes were smoking—the rubber melted to a gooey toffee.

  Alex blinked away the smoke. ‘I think we’re going to need a bigger fuse box.’

  29

  SAM

  The Nyx assault team were waiting for them when they arrived. They were a mixed group of varying ages, all dressed in mismatched winter clothes. None of them appeared to be carrying weapons.

  They assembled in a huge barn on the edge of a forest some fifty kilometres from their objective—the Hypnos site in Tunguska.

  ‘OK, listen up!’ Boris said in Russian. He stood on a work bench, addressing the assembled crowd around him, most with cups of steaming hot tea or coffee huddled in their hands. ‘I will explain the teams that you are in, and then you will go to your team leaders for more briefing. Make no mistake—we go tonight—and we take them out once and for all!’

  A cheer spread through the crowd, many raising their cups in jubilation. Sam looked into their faces and saw that they were ecstatic at the prospect ahead.

  Don’t they realise how dangerous this plan is?

  ‘So,’ Boris went on, shining a laser light against a large map of the area taped to the wall behind him, ‘we will be getting backup from our friends here in the local community and those soldiers who are loyal to our cause. The roads will be cut off by earthmoving equipment, so the Hypnos will have no way in or out. The power will be out, but they have emergency generators for the lights. All radio waves will be jammed by our friend Grigory—’

  A young guy at the back of the group raised his hand and several people nearby clapped him on the back.

  ‘And on the launch of the flare, we all move in,’ Boris said. ‘Most of you will be approaching from their blind side, the fields in the west, with a small advance team going underneath through the tunnel that we have cut through the mountain.’

  There was a murmur as everyone began conferring about who would be doing what.

  ‘Once the advance team have disabled their defences within, the main teams,’ Boris went on, ‘led by Ivan, will make an assault across the fields. Ivan will be leading with our beast here.’

  Boris signalled to Ivan, a large man in Russian military uniform, who pulled aside an oversized Russian flag, which had been draped over something massive in the middle of the barn. It was a tank—a huge tank, bigger than anything Sam had ever seen in a movie or book. The crowd cheered.

  ‘While we attack this facility in Tunguska,’ Boris said, his voice low and slow as he finished up his pep talk, ‘our friends all over the country are doing the same, attacking Hypnos centres and strongholds. By tomorrow, my comrades, we will be in charge. We will be free!’

  The crowd applauded and cheered again, and Boris smiled and stepped off the table, people splintering off into groups.

  Sam was with Arianna and Boris, teamed up with the underground assault group. There were eight of them in all, and they assembled in a corner of the barn to crowd around a rudimentary scale model of the Hypnos facility. Sam figured it didn’t look imposing or sinister in model form, what with the group of toy men guarding it. There was a main building, with a few smaller ones scattered about, and a tall perimeter fence.

  ‘Before the main assault team attacks with the tank and trucks,’ Boris said, ‘we will go through the tunnel here.’

  He tapped at the back of a rock wall, which looked like a mountain range with the peaks lopped off, towering over the building below.

  ‘What’s our objective?’ Arianna asked.

  ‘Disable their defences, then we hit the labs,’ Boris replied. ‘At the front they will do what they can to keep them occupied, while we evacuate the detainees from these outbuildings.’

  ‘What sort of security numbers do they have in there?’ Arianna asked.

  ‘We know the Hypnos have only about two dozen guards here,’ Boris replied, ‘and they will likely all be responding to the frontal assault.’

  ‘Do they know about this tunnel that we’re taking?’ Sam asked.

  Arianna had to translate into Russian for Boris to understand, and the Russian cop smiled.

  ‘No,’ he replied. ‘They don’t. Arianna, can you explain to us the labs?’

  ‘From all we’ve pieced together from those of us who have been experimented on there,’ Arianna said, ‘we understand that inside is in two sections. Here,’ she tapped at the north side of the squat building, ‘are the medical labs, where they keep those that are currently being implanted with the chips. The south side, here, is the computer and data storage centre.’

  Something about it wasn’t adding up for Sam.

  All that data from the dreams is being kept out here? In such a remote area?

  He thought back to the Academy’s Swiss campus, of Jedi’s computer set up.

  I guess it can be set up anywhere.

  Boris sent the group to go organise their equipment for the operation. Sam and Arianna walked towards the big, open barn door.

  ‘I wonder how the Gear ever got out here to Russia?’ Sam said, looking out at the snow-covered field. At the edge of the forest stood tall trees with silver bark and no leaves, and no animals in sight. The tiny farmhouse looked abandoned. The roof was sagging from decades of heavy snowfalls, yet the little chimney spewed puffs of smoke out into the unwelcoming air.

  ‘Where were the Gears made?’ Arianna asked.

  ‘Italy or France, we think,’ Sam replied. ‘They bear da Vinci’s maker’s mark, but can’t be dated exactly.’

  ‘I guess we will know more when I get my dreams back,’ Arianna said and she motioned towards the farmhouse. ‘Come, we will use the satellite phone to call your friends.’

  Sam walked across the field, dirty grey snow crunching underfoot.

  As they neared, more of the farmhouse became visible. The little cabin seemed naggingly familiar—a single door and four walls made of solid timber hewn into rough slabs. It was small and never painted, and had a uniform grey and weathered look. No powerline went in. The stump of a chimney still smoked away.

  Arianna opened the door and they went inside. Sam stopped just inside the doorway. He took in the heavy solid wooden walls, the little metal fireplace in the middle of the room, the dilapidated kitchen and the single boarded-up window.

  He’d been in this place before—he’d dreamed about it.

  The cabin in the woods.

  30

  ALEX

  They’d worked through the night and were finally ready. Alex stood at the controls, Shiva next to him rocking a little side-to-side in some kind of sleep-deprived delirium. Tesla’s experimental Coil began to vibrate as power started surging through it.

  ‘OK, increasing the power to the Coil,’ Shiva said, a
nd the two of them together leaned on the huge lever.

  They stood back and watched. Alex could practically taste the electricity in the room. The noise of the best light show in town bounced around them, the electricity arcing through the dark of the room.

  ‘It seems to be gathering speed!’ Alex called out.

  The Coil lit up from within—a brilliant white-blue hue of electricity running through it.

  ‘It’s live!’ Shiva yelled over the cacophony. ‘It’s live!’

  ‘Maybe not for much longer!’ Alex replied, noticing that the activity seemed to be ebbing. ‘I think it’s running out of juice!’

  They watched as the blue light racing around the Coil dimmed, the current diminishing, the sound fading.

  ‘She needs more power!’ Shiva yelled, reaching for the power lever.

  ‘Shiva, no,’ Alex said as his friend reached out his hand to the huge power supply lever.

  ‘Hold onto something, taking it to ninety per cent!’

  ‘But Shiva, that’s—’

  Shiva leaned on the lever, pushing it towards its maximum setting. Sparks erupted from the control panels, then everything went from bright white-blue—

  To black. Complete and utter pitch black.

  ‘Too much,’ Alex gasped.

  The whirring echo of the Coil powering down rang out around them, the scene in the basement once again lit only by their tiny torches.

  ‘Damn it!’ Shiva kicked the lever.

  WHOMP-WHOMP-WHOMP!

  ‘It’s back on!’ Alex screamed. ‘It’s coming back online!’

  The Coil was suddenly lit up like a million Christmas trees, the room around them full of bolts of light.

  ‘This is amazing!’ Alex said, looking at all the hairs on his bare forearms standing on end. Then he noticed Shiva’s black mop of hair standing at full attention.

  ‘Ha!’ Alex said, pointing at him. ‘You look like a toilet brush!’

  ‘You too!’

  Alex felt his head, which had gone full afro.

  ‘What happens now?’ Alex said over the noise.

  ‘We power down!’ Shiva said.

  ‘What?’ Alex tried cupping his hands around his ears to hear Shiva over the noise.

  ‘This was just for proof of the concept, to see if the Coil still worked!’ Shiva said, wrestling with the controls. ‘We can’t harness the Dreamscape with what we have here.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No buts, it’s too dangerous to go any further,’ Shiva said, his face strained with effort. ‘Help me with this lever.’

  The pair of them pulled at the lever. It didn’t budge at all.

  ‘Pull!’ Alex said. ‘Harder!’

  Their feet on the panel, all hands on the lever, they heaved with all their weight.

  The lever handle snapped off.

  ‘We’ll have to cut the powerlines!’ Shiva said. He reached for the cables and was thrown back across the room as bolts of lightning sparked all around him.

  Shiva!

  Alex rushed over to check his friend’s vital signs—he was out cold and his hair was singed, but his heart was beating.

  Phew.

  Shiva had the biggest grin stuck on his face like he thought he’d just pulled the greatest trick.

  Typical. What a nerd.

  Alex turned back to the machine but the stump of what was left of the lever was locked on full power. He looked around the room, now fully illuminated by the piercing light arcing from the Tesla Coils.

  A glint from the far wall caught his gaze. It was a fire-axe.

  He hefted it at the lever’s remains but it was no use, it wasn’t going to power down that way. The thick snaking power line was at his feet.

  ‘Ah, the hell with it …’ Alex said, and brought the axe over his head and swung at the powerline with every ounce of strength he had.

  The line sliced in two as Alex was blown across the room by the force of the electric shock.

  As Alex blacked out, he caught one fleeting glimpse of the world outside above him through a tiny window. The power was going out.

  31

  SAM

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Arianna asked.

  ‘It’s … deja vu. You know?’

  ‘Sure, but what’s giving you deja vu right now? Something you dreamed?’

  ‘This place. This room. I’ve been here before, with you,’ he said. ‘Talking, like this. But it was night-time, and the wolves came—’

  ‘Wolves?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘There are no wolves around here.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘OK, I am not completely sure. It is possible. But I think the farmers would keep them away.’

  Sam watched the crackling fire behind the steel grill.

  ‘We sat right here …’ Sam said. ‘You, me, this place—’

  ‘The phone’s not here,’ Arianna interrupted.

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘The satellite phone, it’s gone.’

  ‘Someone must be using it,’ Sam said. He walked to the boarded-up window and peered out through a tiny crack to the dull grey world outside. He thought he saw movement, white against the white, but no, it was nothing.

  ‘Argh!’ Arianna cried out.

  ‘What is it?’ Sam said, helping her sit down in a chair.

  ‘My head …’ Arianna said. ‘It’s like a migraine. But it just started now.’

  ‘I’ll get you some water,’ Sam said, turning on the tap. No water came out. ‘The pipes must be frozen.’

  ‘Argh!’ Arianna screamed, clutching at her head. ‘Something’s … happening!’

  Sam raced to the door to get help. He pulled at the handle—the door wouldn’t move.

  Then, the whole building did. They were moving.

  ‘It’s a trap!’ Sam yelled. He peered through the slim gap between the window boards.

  The entire cabin was straining and heaving, but unmistakably moving—on the back of a truck, Sam guessed. He could make out outlines of white moving in the farmland beyond, men in Stealth Suits, effortlessly darting the Nyx, most of whom were like Arianna was now, crouched down in pain, their hands on their heads.

  The chips. They’ve triggered something in their implanted chips.

  ‘It’ll be OK,’ Sam murmured to Arianna, holding her tight, staring at the locked door ahead as the cabin rumbled on beneath them. ‘It’ll be OK,’ he said, knowing that it wouldn’t.

  Sam struggled against the restraints rubbing against his wrists. It had been two hours since they’d gone into that wooden cabin, where he’d been locked inside with Arianna and transported. Now they were in the Tunguska Dreamer facility.

  Not how we planned to be here.

  ‘We really must stop meeting like this,’ Hans said to Sam. ‘You see, it was obvious that you’d come here,’ Hans said. ‘That’s why I sowed the seed about her dreams in Moscow.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Arianna said. ‘You could not have known about us coming here.’

  Hans laughed.

  Sam looked about—he was in a dentist-type chair, his arms and legs and neck and forehead strapped down tight. Arianna sat opposite, tied to a metal office chair. Hans was wearing a lab coat, as were the seven technicians Sam could see moving around in his line of vision. It was a small room with only a handful of computers and some shelves stacked with clear plastic tubs. There was, however, plenty of medical gear in sight.

  Not good …

  I need to buy as much time as I can. Implanting the dream chip is risky … they won’t chance it with me, will they?

  ‘You and your Hypnos will never succeed,’ Sam said.

  ‘Well, I never said they were my Hypnos, and one could argue that they’ve already succeeded,’ Hans said. ‘You see, with their technology and your dreams, there will soon be a new world order. Sounds enticing, doesn’t it, Sam?’

  ‘Is this all because you’ve got an inferiority complex because you’re short?’ Sam jeered, playi
ng for time.

  ‘Ah, Sam, you kill me, really,’ Hans chortled.

  ‘Given the chance, yeah.’ Sam couldn’t help himself.

  Hans chuckled. ‘Always with fight in you. I like it.’

  ‘If you’re involved with the atrocities that have happened here,’ Sam said, ‘you’ll pay for that.’

  ‘Atrocities? I’m doing my role to be sure that I am the victor—I’m not the bad guy, Sam. I’m not Solaris.’

  ‘Solaris didn’t attack me in Denver!’ Sam said.

  ‘Ah, yes,’ Hans said. ‘That was most unusual. Really makes you think, doesn’t it?’

  Sam was puzzled and Hans could read that.

  ‘I see that you’ve been wondering about it too …’ Hans said. ‘Think about it. Why would he save you, Sam? Why save you, only to send you away?’

  ‘Probably so we could have this little play date here,’ Sam said, subtly working against his bindings. He could see that Arianna was doing the same.

  ‘Or,’ Hans said, ‘perhaps it is because you are working together? That would be quite a twist, don’t you think?’

  ‘Maybe I am Solaris,’ Sam said. ‘Ever think of that?’

  Hans shook his head. ‘I’m trying to be reasonable here, Sam. Solaris could do as we were doing,’ he said. ‘As we will continue to do.’

  Sam knew what that meant—read his dreams, steal them and keep him captive. Have him in some kind of stasis until all thirteen Gears were found.

  ‘You see,’ Hans said, nodding to a technician who tapped at a syringe and then moved towards Sam, the clear liquid-filled needle slicing into his arm with a sharp jab. Sam glared at the technician, straining to pull his arm away but it was no use.

  ‘I knew that when I said that your dream led me to Arianna, and hers then to the Gear,’ Hans continued, ‘that you would think of coming here first, to, ah, attempt to get her dreams back. Am I right?’

  ‘Must get annoying,’ Sam said, cringing as the needle was pulled out. ‘Always being right.’

  ‘Sarcasm suits you, Sam,’ Hans said. ‘You should keep it up.’

  ‘Sure, why not?’ Sam said. ‘I get lots of practice, having met you enough times.’