by James Phelan
Hans’ eyes narrowed as he chuckled to himself. ‘We found the cabin and had it dismantled and remade onto the back of a truck,’ he said. ‘The rest, you two did. It was just too easy. It’s almost like you wanted to be caught.’
Sam’s vision started to blur.
‘Ah, there it is,’ Hans said, walking closer to Sam. ‘Your familiar friend in that syringe. You’ll be dreaming soon Sam, and the more you dream, the less you are going to remember. But don’t worry, I won’t miss a thing. Come now, why don’t you sleep for us? Show me who the next Dreamer is.’
Sam grimaced as the drug took hold.
Hans nodded to the technician behind Sam, and he could hear a buzzing sound start up.
‘I’ll give you this last chance,’ Hans said quietly, so close to Sam that he could smell his oily breath. ‘Join me, or suffer like your friend Arianna here. Look at her. So pretty, so special, yet she will never remember her own dreams.’
Sam looked across to Arianna. Silent tears streamed down her face. Sam’s vision clouded and his head rolled back, his eyes closing.
‘We don’t have to do this, Sam,’ Hans said. ‘Save yourself the headaches. Choose to keep your dreams. Say you’ll join me, just say it.’
Sam felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.
‘Say it,’ Hans said.
Sam’s lips moved, and Hans leaned in to listen.
‘Never …’
32
EVA
‘Zodiac signs in astrology, the ones we know, like Pisces, Sagittarius et cetera—are all thirty degrees in length,’ Jedi said, ‘to make the full three-sixty degree orbit that the sun makes in a year. But the actual constellations, the star patterns that they refer to, vary in size.’
‘OK, I’m with you so far,’ Eva said.
‘Having those convenient boundaries was helpful for astronomers, but along with the twelve constellations, there is a thirteenth,’ Jedi continued. ‘It was more recently called Ophiuchus, known as the “serpent bearer”.’
‘So while the world finds it easy to follow the twelve divisions of the zodiac—twelve months of the year, divided into four seasons and so on, there is this other, thirteenth part that has always been there,’ Lora added.
‘And I guess that number’s pretty important for us, huh?’ Eva said.
‘Exactly,’ the Professor said. ‘We have come too far to imagine that such a dream from you is not significant.’
‘So where is this zodiac,’ Eva asked, ‘this disc that I dreamed of?’
‘That, we don’t yet know,’ the Professor said. ‘We’d never seen this particular image before your dream last night.’
‘What if it doesn’t exist?’ Eva said. ‘Or what if it’s lost forever?’
‘Hopefully that’s not the case,’ Lora said, ‘and we have reason to be hopeful. Dr Dark’s team found mention of Ophiuchus, which falls between Scorpio and Sagittarius, several times in their research.’
‘It would appear that we must look into it more,’ the Professor said.
‘All because I dreamed about it?’ Eva said.
‘Yes,’ the Professor replied.
‘But … I’m pleased you have such confidence in me but we don’t even know for sure if—’
‘Eva, the first thing we teach students here,’ the Professor said with a friendly smile, ‘is to follow their dreams.’
‘Yes, I know …’ Eva said.
‘Dr Dark is on his way here,’ Lora said. ‘He will guide you through your dream, and will accompany you to find this zodiac. It seems too crucial now to ignore and it may add to our knowledge of the Dream Gate.’
‘What about finding Sam?’ Eva said. ‘What about the Dreamer competition? There’s so much for us to do …’
‘We will not stop doing all we can to find Sam,’ Lora said. ‘And as for the Dreamer Doors, let the others worry about that. You have an important job to do.’
‘OK,’ Eva said. ‘Wow.’
So I do have a bigger part to play in the race. I hope I’m up to it …
‘Don’t underestimate yourself, Eva,’ the Professor said, uncannily perceiving her thoughts. ‘You are a powerful Dreamer. And you must dare to dream, and follow your dreams.’
33
SAM’S DREAM
I stretch out against my sleepiness as the morning sunshine spills across my face.
I sit up in bed and look out of my bedroom window, down at the green fields of the Academy’s campus outside London.
The sun is peering through wispy white clouds, the light and warmth drawing out the students to play sports and games. There is some sort of tournament coming up. They all look so happy.
I smile.
I know what Hans is doing. I gotta stay calm.
I pick up my tablet and flick to the Academy’s home-page, reading the latest newsletter.
There is a short clip of me arriving back from Russia, via helicopter, being mobbed by hundreds of jubilant students, then I am lofted into the air and carried back to the main hall, where the video file stops on a close-up of me holding up the lanyard with the four Gears. Cheers ring out.
Is this my subconsious having fun with me? I guess it’s my ultimate dream come true …
A knock at the door rouses me.
‘Yeah?’ I say.
The door inches open and a smiling face appears.
‘Eva!’ I say, rushing to her and hugging her.
This is good, keep the dream neutral. Don’t give away anything.
‘How are you feeling?’ she asks, revealing that she’s brought with her a trolley laden with breakfast.
‘Fine–wait, no, better than fine!’ I say, jumping around the room. ‘I’m ready to conquer the world!’
Eva laughs. ‘Can’t do it on an empty stomach. Clear off your desk and I’ll set up.’
I make space by stacking up the books and papers, pausing as I see Dr Kader’s leather-bound notebook. I pick it up, its worn and beaten appearance jogging something just out of grasp in my memory.
‘What is it?’ Eva asks, looking at the notebook after placing a covered plate on the desk in front of me.
Don’t think about it … concentrate on Eva, food, anything.
‘I … I’m not … it’s nothing,’ I say, putting the notebook aside. ‘What’s for breakfast?’
‘Guess,’ Eva says.
‘Hmm …’ my hand hovers over one of the stainless steel covers. ‘Smells like … bacon. Bacon, scrambled eggs and buttered toast. And mushrooms!’
‘Maybe. Have a look.’
I lift the lid.
‘Ha, exactly what I guessed!’
‘Tea or coffee?’ Eva asks.
‘Juice.’
She pours orange juice from a jug, two glasses.
I sit on the edge of my bed, the plate of food on my lap, Eva at my desk.
‘So,’ Eva says after I start eating. ‘Tell me about your last mission.’
I finish my mouthful and have a sip of juice. Eva seems to mirror my moves.
Uh-oh. They’re in here too.
‘What do you want to know?’ I say slowly.
Eva smiles. ‘Tell me everything.’
‘Well,’ I say, then look at her, and she looks at me. I eat another forkful of egg on toast–she does too. ‘It all started in Arizona …’
‘And then you went with Cody to Colorado?’ Eva asks.
‘Yep,’ I say.
‘What did you see there, in Denver?’
‘What’s with you and the fifty questions this morning?’ I say.
‘Just curious.’ Eva smiles, waiting for my reply.
I’ll bet.
‘OK,’ I say, putting my empty plate on the tray, then taking Eva’s and stacking it. ‘Well, you and Lora were headed there too, right?’
‘Right.’
‘Where’d you guys end up?’
‘We–we were nearly there, but had to stop.’
‘OK, well, let’s see, Denver … Denver. Oh, I was with Cody
, after we’d been to the temple in the Grand Canyon.’
They know this already. This is OK. Keep talking about what’s already happened. Stay away from the future.
‘What did you find there?’
‘The next Gear.’
‘Oh.’ Eva’s face seems frozen by the idea.
‘But we were kind of double-crossed by Cody’s parents.’
‘Enterprise Agents?’ Eva asks.
‘Yeah,’ I say, leaning by the window. It is empty out there now, no students in sight. The sun was still out, the clouds too, but not moving–there mustn’t be a breath of air at all.
Is this because I’m steering the dream or is this them?
‘Wait,’ I say, looking at Eva, who stands and backs away. I do a double take. ‘What am I saying?’
‘Huh? What’s wrong?’
‘I just realised–Cody’s parents weren’t working for the Enterprise, they were working with Mac.’
‘Oh.’ Eva seems to settle and joins me by the window. ‘Mac?’
‘Yeah, that American guy, the one who betrayed the Dreamer Council in Paris?’
Eva nods.
‘Well, he also worked for the US government, and he took us to some kind of base under Denver Airport. The Ark? I think they called it the Central Ark.’
‘Called what the Central Ark?’
‘The place, it was designed as some kind of doomsday bunker–’
‘What happened in Denver?’ Eva interrupts.
Damn. Concentrate, stop telling her stuff she doesn’t already know. Fight it, Sam, fight it.
I squint, looking outside. It’s still dead silent out there. I look at a couple of birds in the sky, little specks of black against the grey. They don’t move. Two still dots. The wisps of cloud are still, not moving across the sky at all.
‘Sam?’
‘I, ahhh …’
‘Sam, look at me.’
I look at Eva, my friend from the start, always there for me.
Betraying me now. But it’s not really her.
‘Mac wasn’t working for the government anymore,’ I say.
Fight it!
Eva’s expression turns serious. ‘Who was he working for?’
I look back at those motionless birds in the sky.
‘Solaris was there,’ I say.
‘What did he want?’
‘To save me.’
‘How’d he save you?’
I look from her to the floor.
‘I don’t think he did.’
When I look back up, Eva is gone.
I stand in my room. An empty room–dull, as grey as the sky outside had been, lifeless. Even the window is just a few painted lines on a concrete wall.
34
ALEX
Alex woke up in a familiar setting.
A hospital.
A hospital he’d been in before.
The door opened. Two cops walked in—one an older guy with no hair, the other a younger one with a wide grin.
He’d seen them before too.
‘So, if it isn’t our little terrorist friend,’ the older cop said to Alex.
‘Found at the site of another explosion in our fine city,’ his colleague added.
‘With an accomplice this time.’
‘Oh great, these guys again …’ Alex said under his breath as he leaned back onto the pillow and looked up at the ceiling.
How’d I get here? More importantly, how do I get out?
‘Seems our Federal friends from last time didn’t teach you a lesson,’ the older one continued.
‘Maybe you’re just a little slow to catch on. Do you remember us, sonny? I’m Detective Carter,’ the younger one said. ‘And this here is Detective Montrose.’
‘When we heard it was you,’ Montrose said, ‘we just had to come by to say hi.’
‘And this time,’ Carter said, ‘we ain’t gonna let you out of our sight.’
‘Feds?’ Alex said. ‘Are you really so incompetent that you failed to realise last time that those weren’t Feds? Nope. You handed me straight over to the bad guys.’
Alex sat up and saw that the two cops looked a little uneasy.
‘That’s right,’ Alex said, getting out of the bed and standing a little unsteadily on his feet. ‘You two handed me over to a team of Agents that weren’t Federal anything—they were the ones you were after, they were the ones who caused that explosion.’
They remained silent, trading glances, then Montrose said, ‘And this last explosion, in downtown Manhattan, I guess you weren’t involved in that either?’
Well, it’s not like we meant it.
‘Where’s my friend, Shiva?’
‘Shiva?’ Carter said, his eyebrows raised. ‘What’s that, your friend’s name? Had a different name in his passport.’
‘What’s yours?’ Montrose said, sniggering. ‘No, wait, lemme guess—Zeus?’
‘It’s his online handle …’ Alex said, the feeling coming back into his legs now. He had small grazes on his hands that stung but apart from that he felt fine. ‘His name’s Rahul. Where is he?’
‘Online handle?’
‘You guys some kind of hackers?’
‘You trying to hack into City Hall?’
‘You trying to steal our pay cheques? Our pensions?’
‘Now we’re talking a serious felony.’
‘Serious.’
‘Long jail time.’
‘Real long I reckon. Fifteen years?’
‘Least. Maybe twenty.’
The cops whistled as though in awe at their own little sideshow.
Alex shook his head with exasperation.
‘Look, guys, just tell me,’ Alex said, ‘is my friend OK?’
The two cops looked to each other and shrugged.
‘Yeah, he’s down the hall,’ Montrose said.
‘As OK as a criminal can be,’ Carter added, with a chuckle on top. ‘Are terrorists regarded as mere criminals?’ he asked his partner in mock-seriousness.
‘Nope, they’re far worse,’ Montrose said. ‘The worst.’
‘Listen,’ Alex said to Carter. ‘Maybe we can work something out here and clear up this innocent mess …’
‘You think this is an innocent mess?’ Montrose said. ‘We’ve got an old building downtown all messed up and the whole lower half of Manhattan was blacked-out after your little stunt.’
‘I thought it was a brownout,’ Carter replied.
‘Whatever,’ Montrose said, ‘this is serious.’
‘Real serious. This is the second time we’ve linked your whereabouts to the location of a massive explosion.’
‘We ain’t gonna wait around for a third time.’
‘No chance.’
‘So how about you start talkin’, kid.’
‘OK …’ Alex said, sorting through the thoughts in his mind. ‘How about this? You help us, I’ll help you,’ he said. ‘I can get you the names and details of who was responsible for the explosion the last time we met. You’ll get promotions, and medals, I’m sure. We give you the names, you check them out. You think I’m lying, you can arrest me. What you got to lose? Nothing. But think about what you’ve got to gain when you take down some really big players in the criminal world. Cross my heart. Just make a call to my mother, her name’s Phoebe, she’ll tell you everything.’
‘Your mother? Are you freaking kidding?’
Alex shook his head. ‘Nuh-uh, I’m for real.’
They looked at each other, then shrugged again.
‘Fine,’ Carter said. ‘But you double-cross us on this, you won’t be seeing daylight for the next few decades. You and your buddy, Rahul.’
‘Trust me,’ Alex said, smiling. ‘Just you wait and see, you guys are gonna be heroes.’
35
SAM’S DREAM
I take off the visor that is strapped around my head. It has a little antenna, transmitting wirelessly to someplace outside the room. I look through the visor screen, but it is clear now.
I look around the room. Grey concrete blocks, a single bed and a painted-on window. There is also a heavy steel door.
It’s a cell.
But where? The underground lab in Denver?
No.
I can easily see that this place is older and less maintained.
What’s the last thing I can remember?
As much as I try, I draw a blank.
I’m wearing a dark blue prison-like jumpsuit.
They took my Stealth Suit?
I tiptoe across to the door and listen.
There are footsteps. They are coming closer.
And voices, but not speaking in English.
Russian?
I back away from the door–
It opens.
A man and a woman in lab coats stand in the doorway. They enter the room without speaking. The woman takes my virtual-reality visor while the man checks my heart rate, blood pressure, and shines a small light into my eyes.
‘One hundred and ten over seventy, pupil dilation back to normal,’ the man says in English, and the woman jots it down on a notepad along with the time that she gets from a thin gold watch around her wrist. The man seems familiar in some way.
I touch my chest, where the brass Gears should be–nothing.
‘Welcome back to the waking world, Sam,’ the man says. ‘I am Demetri, head of the Russian Dreamer Program.’
‘Where am I?’
‘A secure location, for observation.’
‘How’d I get here?’
‘You fell from the sky.’
‘I–what?’
Demetri smiles. ‘Come, I’ll show you. Hopefully it will jog your memory so that you can tell us how you came to be here with us.’
Wait a minute, this happened already. I don’t remember it, but it did.
I’m still in a dream.
Right, time to mess with them.
What I see more resembles the space launch control room of the Apollo missions from the 1960s that I’ve studied in class than any kind of modern scientific endeavour.
‘Here,’ Demetri says, his hand gesturing to a seat in a small theatre-like room. ‘Take a seat.’
I sit.
Demetri motions to a technician who starts up the projector.
‘Our sensors detected an unidentified object flying through a suborbital trajectory across our night sky, vectoring to pass directly over this installation.’