“I think that would be a good idea.” He laughed. “At least tell Sarina your name this time.”
The girl’s face crinkled into a smile. “I’m Lena and I’m almost six.”
“Hello, Lena.” Sarina bent down and held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
Lena shook Sarina’s hand, and resumed her ever-so-serious expression. “I’m a Dreamer Kid too. When I dream, I meet up with all sorts of creatures. In the forest, like you did. I’ve met unicorns, heffalumps, mermaids—but they were in the sea, not the forest—a grumpy minotaur, giant birds, and I’ve also met a really funny baby-dragon, whose name I’ve forgotten”—she looked around with her lips puckered, then lit up again—“oh yes, and now I can tell all my friends that I’ve met the Orange Witch! Come on, let’s get a drink,” and she dragged Sarina past the Professor and down the corridor into the café.
Nathan looked at the Professor. “‘Daddy’? You’ve kept that well hidden.”
The Professor smiled. “Long story. I’ll tell you both when we get to the café. I’ll have to conjure something to occupy Lena elsewhere though. Somehow I think it will be hard to tear her away from ‘The Orange Witch’.”
Nathan laughed, and they walked together to join the others.
When they arrived, Sarina was in the middle of explaining something to the girl.
“It wasn’t me that came up with the name, and I’m not really a witch. It’s just a ... nickname the people who lived in that place gave to me.”
“Well I like it. And don’t you lie to me, Nathan told me about your special powers.” The girl folded her arms and looked at Sarina, who laughed.
“Okay, okay! You’re right. In that world I had special magical powers.”
The girl jumped up, smiled and stamped her foot. “I knew it! I knew it! Tell me about painting the orange wall and how—”
“Lena.” The Professor put his hand gently on her shoulder. “Sarina doesn’t have much time. She’s about to leave on a painting holiday to practice her skills for a special competition. She’s dropped in to see us before she leaves, so while we chat, why don’t you run to my office and bring some of your favourite pictures you’ve drawn. Maybe she’ll have a chance to look at them on her way out—or maybe”—he whispered in her ear—“there’s one you’d like to give to her?”
Lena’s eyes widened along with her smile. “Good idea, Daddy!” and she raced off in a flurry of arms and legs.
“So,” Nathan said, sitting down next to Sarina, and gesturing to the empty lounge chair in front of them, “you were going to tell us about ‘Daddy’?” He raised an eyebrow.
The Professor sat down. “It really is a long story, one you both need to know, as it directly impacts on my research here—our research now actually.”
Sarina glanced at Nathan, who mouthed ‘Later’, and looked back at the Professor, who was looking around the café. They were the only remaining occupants. He nodded.
“Five years ago, Malden, my research partner in the labs here, and probably the genius inventor side of the partnership, had discovered a new method for tapping into rem power.”
“Rem power?” Nathan interrupted.
“Yes. I told you I would explain more today. Not long before Malden discovered this new method, he and I had finally proved the existence of a new particle. A particle not unlike the Higgs Boson particle, in that it lets us connect many different theories. Theories to do with the existence and use of creative thought. And dreams. We named the particle the ‘rem’, after R.E.M., or Rapid Eye Movement, which as you probably know is what happens to our closed eyes during dreams. We’ve kept our discovery hidden from most of the scientific community, which might make you be wonder why I’m telling you both. But I’ll get to that. For now, I need you to be sworn to secrecy with what you are about to hear. You won’t have to sign forms, but suffice to say when you hear what I have to say, you won’t want to tell anyone anyway. Agreed?”
They both nodded. It sounded so serious, Sarina thought, then she caught herself. This was Nathan’s world, not hers. She’d listen to the Professor—and yes, she’d keep his little secrets—but she had her own problems so sort out and she didn’t need any more to add to the list.
The Professor continued. “So. One night, five years ago, Ted—that’s Malden’s first name—was working late at the labs here, on a new project we’d started”—he shot a knowing look at Nathan—“when, as far as we know, he called his wife from the lab. After the accident, we were able to restore a partial recording of his side of the telephone call, and it was obvious he was very excited ...” His gaze dropped and he sighed.
“An accident?” Sarina prompted.
“Yes. His wife, Maggie, arrived at the labs, I’m not sure why he wanted her here, but she had no-one else to look after their one-year old, so she brought her along.” He wiped away what looked like the start of a tear. “There was an explosion, a big one, enough to cause some local damage to neighbouring buildings, and substantial enough to destroy large areas of this one.”
He looked at both Sarina and Nathan, the pain obvious.
“When I arrived, Ted’s wife was pinned under a steel beam and the girl was next to her, unconscious. To this day, I believe Maggie had seen the beam falling and shoved the child away, but couldn’t save herself.”
“Couldn’t save herself? Couldn’t you pull the beam off her?” Sarina felt the tightness in her throat.
“I’m afraid not, though goodness knows I tried.” He grimaced. “It’s one reason why I resolved to build up my body strength.” He looked down at his muscular arms. “Back then I was a typical geeky weakling. No way could I move that beam. I remember her eyes looking into mine as she faded away. ‘Take care of Lena,’ was the last thing she said.” He blinked rapidly and straightened, his expression set firm.
“Does she? ...” Sarina couldn’t quite finish the sentence, her throat was too choked.
The Professor nodded. “Yes. Now she does. Well as much as a six-year old can. I told her that her mummy had asked me to be her daddy from now on, and she’s accepted that. Actually, I think there’s more than a trace of Malden’s genius in her. I’d kept her away from my research here—which is why you’ve not met her until now—but just recently, she told me about some of her dreams. I was reluctant to involve her at all, but it turns out she’s one of the most powerful and imaginative Dreamer Kids we’ve come across, quite remarkable.”
He looked at Sarina and Nathan. “Nowhere near as powerful as the both of you though.” He grinned and seemed to recover. “Perhaps you understand why we’ve kept our ground-breaking discovery under wraps for now. And I don’t think I need to remind you why it wouldn’t be a good idea to share this with anyone.”
“I don’t get it.” Nathan’s brow was furrowed. “Why tell us in the first place? And why not involve a higher authority?”
Harrison nodded. “Fair point, Nathan, and one I will actually answer, for a change. We, as in me and a select few others from Agent Blanchard’s team, made a decision to keep our discoveries under wraps because”—he took a deep breath—“because if it got into the wrong hands—for example, a rival country or corporation—we think it could be dangerous. Even ‘weaponised’.”
A long, awkward silence hung over them, eventually broken by Nathan’s tense voice.
“And the answer to my first question?”
“Why tell you both? Because you may well be our best hope for an answer.” He held Nathan’s gaze.
“An answer to what?”
“I’ll tell you more tomorrow, Nathan. Right now we have a guest, who I’m sure is eager to get away to her retreat.”
Sarina couldn’t shake the image of the woman trapped and crushed by the steel beam, desperate to save her child. She spoke softly. “What happened to Professor Malden?”
The Professor’s face appeared to age and he went pale. “His body was never found. We have no idea what happened to Ted. He’s now listed as a ‘missing pe
rson.” He drew himself up. “Anyway, we may never know. Our best hope is to continue the project, tread carefully, and make sure when naturally powerful manipulators of rem-particles such as you and Nathan come along, we take you into our confidence and we search for answers. And a way to make sure this new discovery never causes anything like Malden’s accident again.”
“Is that a risk, Professor?” Nathan said.
“We’ve discussed this before, Nathan, and I believe you know my answer to that already. Great rewards are possible when one takes great risks. As long as they are properly calculated risks eh?” The Professor rubbed his hands together and stood. “Now, which of you fancies a hot chocolate from our super-amazing drink machine?”
“Me! I do!” A blur of arms and legs slid to a halt in front of them, clutching a hand-made envelope. “Here you are. I put them in a special wrapper I made! They’re my favourite two pictures!”
Sarina smiled and took the package. “Thank you, Lena. I won’t look at them now, I’ll save that for my painting holiday. I’ll take them with me, for when I need some inspiration.”
The girl beamed.
Sarina saw the girl in a different light now. Her own problems were trivial compared to the horror both the Professor and Lena had come through, and with flying colours. She resolved to be strong and fight for her own future, just as these two had. She looked at the Professor, over at the drink dispenser, already in intense discussion with Nathan. It was no mistake Nathan was involved in the Professor’s project. She supposed his great-great-grandfather would be smiling down on him right at this moment. But as much as the Professor might need her help, he’d have to wait for that.
Lena was tugging at her sleeve. “Your taxi. I think it’s here.” She pointed down the corridor to where the man in the smart black suit from reception was waving at her to come.
Sarina smiled. “Thank you, Lena. Your Daddy is right. You are a great help around here. I have to go—but thank you so much for the pictures. I’ll draw some for you while I’m away, would you like that?”
The girl nodded, still beaming, and hugged Sarina briefly and ran off to the back of the building.
Sarina, Nathan and the Professor walked to the reception foyer and the Professor stopped to face Sarina.
“Well, thank you for stopping by, Sarina. I’m glad I had the chance to shed a little more light on ... our situation here, and thank you for listening. We will see you after your retreat. I hope all goes well for you, although, having seen your talented output hanging up in various buildings in town, I have no doubt you are already exactly where you need to be. Perhaps I might be better to wish you great creative inspiration, eh?” He laughed, shook Sarina’s hand and waved as he walked back into the building, stopping one more time. “Nathan. I’ll leave you to say your goodbyes, then come and join me in the cold-room. Knock if I’m already in.” He turned and walked off.
“Cold-room?” Sarina raised her eyes at Nathan. “Are you starting an ice-cream business? Or is this more of your cold-plasma nonsense?”
He grinned. “Not cold at all actually. Sarina, it’s incredible, you wouldn’t believe your eyes. There’s this amazing coll—”
She was barely aware of of Nathan’s surprised expression as everything went dark and her legs gave way underneath her.
Then nothing. Only blackness and time passing. How much time? She didn’t know, only that the ceiling lights were now swimming above her. She tried to get up and failed. Gradually her vision cleared and she saw a grim-faced Nathan kneeling next to her.
“What happened, Sarina? Please tell me it wasn’t another message from that crazy sorcerer.”
She shook her head, immediately regretting it. She sat up and put her hand on her forehead. “He’d have trouble doing anything after what we did to him, I hope. No, I think I must have had low blood sugar. Maybe I should have had a hot chocolate after all.” She managed a weak smile, hoping she had offered a plausible enough explanation for someone as inquisitive as Nathan.
He nodded, then looked outside. “Your cab is raring to go. Are you okay to walk? You’d better get something to eat quickly.”
Sarina nodded. “I’m fine now. Mum will have something for me in the taxi. I’d better go.”
The cab tooted its horn.
Sarina looked at Nathan, feeling guilty about withholding her fears; and still feeling extremely off-balance. “See you soon.” She walked out to the cab as steadily as she could, where her mother was waving to her from the window. She got in and waved once more back to Nathan, who had run outside, and was gesturing at her.
“Wait!” he shouted. “I didn’t tell you about the project! I’ll call you, OK?”
“No phone, remember?” she yelled out the window as the cab drove off.
The last thing she saw before they turned the corner was Nathan’s crestfallen face as he came to a halt.
That boy. Was there nothing more important to him than his dratted science project?
“Everything OK, Sarina?” her mother said, with a bemused look on her face.
“Oh. Yes, Mum. Everything is fine. Absolutely fine.”
Sarina turned to the window and watched the buildings go by in a blur, hoping her mother would not recognise the anxiety in her voice and the fear in her eyes. Please, let this pass. Let it not be the early onset of some horrible madness.
~~~
Nathan walked back down the corridor toward the cold room. He’d really wanted to bring Sarina up to speed on the research project, but that would have to wait. Maybe he could find out the address of the holiday cottage—that wouldn’t be too hard, for a boy of his talents—and send her a real letter. He drew himself up. Great idea. Get stuck into the Prof’s project and send Sarina a report card. She’d enjoy hearing from them, maybe give her a break from all that painting. How on earth could someone spend two weeks in somewhere with no TV, phone, internet anyway? He’d go crazy in one day, let alone two weeks.
He arrived outside the ‘cold-room’ and stopped in alarm.
The door was wide open.
~ 2 ~
The Collider
Lena put her book down and lay back on her pillow. She’d been so excited to meet Sarina earlier. She was still buzzing with energy and wasn’t sure sleep would come easily. She wondered if Sarina saw the same things in her dreams she did? The day couldn’t come soon enough when they could tell each other their dreamer places.
But Daddy had already told her to be careful. “Sarina’s dream powers got her into a lot of trouble, sweet one. Remember, she is older than you and has already had time to develop her strengths.”
“But, Daddy! I can use your special yellow hats! They will make me strong and powerful.”
The Professor’s expression became firm. “Lena, have you been spying on the senior lab again? I already told you. Maybe when you turn eight, you can test using an Intensifier. But up until then, it’s far too dangerous. Right now, please do what I’ve asked you and try to direct your dreams, and note who you connect with and how it works.” His face broke out in a big smile. “I’ve had an idea though.”
“Tell me, Daddy! Oh please!”
He laughed. “I think I could help Sarina overcome her reluctance to get more involved with the dreamer kids. And at the same time give you some more personal help from a good friend. How about I invite Sarina to come over? Perhaps one day after her holiday. The two of you can have fun together, and I’ll ask her to help you.” He leaned in to her and whispered. “Maybe you can dream together?”
Lena clapped her hands. “Yes! When, Daddy, when?”
“Patience, sweet one, patience. In the meantime, be careful. I mean it.” He had kissed her goodnight and left her to read.
Now, lying back in bed, she wished Sarina was here with her. Perhaps they would both meet the nice big bird?
She yawned once more and sleep came more easily than she expected. As did the dream.
They were in the large building again. It was huge and most
ly empty, like the big aircraft hangars she had seen on TV. Only a few lights were on, creating an eerie atmosphere.
But she wasn’t scared.
Her friend, the big bird-man would be here to protect her, as he had been the last few dreams.
He was fun. He played fun games with her.
She heard the flapping of large wings behind her and turned with a squeal of delight. He was here!
“Lena, how lovely to see you.” Valkrog bowed, and swept one wing underneath his chest.
“Nice to see you too, Mr Big Bird!” Lena curtsied. She didn’t know the bird’s real name and he hadn’t offered it, so she had settled on ‘Mr Big Bird’, which she thought he liked. When she used the name for the first time the other day, his beak-like mouth twitched, in what she thought must be a smile. “Will we play a game today?” She looked up at the giant creature. Maybe some people would be frightened by his appearance, but she knew better. Daddy had always taught her not to see ‘just the outside’. “Never judge a book by its cover,” he said. Though honestly, most of the time, she could have told him the covers on the books she read were much better and more colourful than his books. She knew what he meant though. He meant it mattered more what someone did than how they looked. And even if Mr Big Bird looked a bit scary at first; once he started playing games with you, you knew underneath he was nice. “How about hide and seek?” She glanced over to the other end of the warehouse. She hadn’t told Mr Big Bird about the small secret door and the tiny, musty room behind it. Perfect for hide and seek!
“I think we have time for a game, yes, Lena. How about ...” the creature scratched its chin with a long talon, “the guessing game?”
Lena jumped up and down. “Yes, Yes! The guessing game! Who gets to go first? Me?”
“Why not. Ask me a question to start.”
Lena looked up and thought. That’s it! Try to guess where he lives!
“Do you live in a tree?”
“No. But have another guess, Lena. You can start again.” Valkrog’s beak twitched.
“Mmm. Do you live in a forest?”
The Dreamer Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set Vol I - III: A Sci-Fi Parallel Universe Adventure (The Dreamer Chronicles - Science Fiction For Kids And Adults) Page 28