9

by James Phelan

  ‘And where’s Stella and her band of traitors now?’ Sam asked.

  ‘That’s a very good question,’ the Professor said. ‘And that search is something Lora will be directing.’

  ‘I’ve put a team together,’ Lora said. ‘We’re working with the Enterprise, who are now desperate to bring her to justice.’

  ‘Hmph,’ the Professor said, pressing the power button again. The computer made a loud whirring sound. ‘Between … those … attacks …’ he banged on the laptop and the screen went blank.

  ‘Here,’ Lora said, going around to his side of the desk and tapping away at his computer. ‘Violence and technology aren’t a good combination.’

  ‘Right, thank you,’ the Professor said. ‘Three PhDs and I can’t turn on a computer. Where was I? Yes, between those two attacks, and the attack on the Council of Dreamers, I’m afraid we are up against threats that we never imagined …’

  He trailed off.

  ‘Lora?’ he pointed at his computer screen.

  Lora moved closer, and Tobias, Sam and Zara followed, all hovering around the Professor’s desk looking at a strange graphic that had taken over the computer screen.

  ‘Could it be . . ?’

  ‘Matrix?’ Tobias finished Lora’s thought.

  The face on the screen suddenly turned sinister as it said, ‘BYE, BYE!’ followed by high-pitched cackling laughter.

  In a sudden instinctive movement, Lora picked up the laptop and threw it out the open window behind them.

  ‘Everybody get down!’ she yelled, diving for the floor.

  KLAP-BOOM!

  10

  ALEX

  The taxi from the airport stopped in front of an old four-storey building in a row of adjoining apartments and offices that were all designed in the same, older style. On the other side of the street was a wide canal, busy with commuter and tourist boats.

  Alex had not travelled outside the US until his trip to the Academy’s Swiss campus, and he marvelled at the new sights and sounds around him now.

  ‘That’s our new HQ?’ Alex said.

  ‘Yep,’ Shiva said. ‘The Enterprise managed to keep this secret by keeping it out in the open. Clever, eh?’

  As Alex got their bags out and Shiva paid the driver, Phoebe emerged from the building—

  ‘Hey, Mum,’ Alex ran over to Phoebe and she gave him a hug.

  ‘Come on in,’ his mother said, motioning to the open front door of the terrace. ‘We’ll get you set up.’

  ‘What’s this next door?’ Alex asked, pointing to a building that wouldn’t look out of place as the house of a president or king.

  ‘The Allard Pierson Museum. It’s an archaeological museum, part of the University of Amsterdam,’ Phoebe explained. ‘I’ll take you both for a tour in there when things quieten down—some of the collection has ties to Dreamers.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Shiva said.

  ‘Well, this is our new base for a while,’ Phoebe said, as they entered the foyer, walking by two Agents standing guard in their grey suits and white shirts. ‘It used to be a bank, now it’s our home away from home.’

  ‘Wow …’ Alex let out a wondrous sigh. Inside the building, the floors were set back from the main facade, so that each was a mezzanine with a balcony looking down to the entrance. The foyer was open to the ceiling under the main roof several storeys above. Agents were milling about, setting up tech gear to accommodate the rapidly expanding operations in their new hub.

  ‘We’ve got teams trying to track Stella and the rogue Agents,’ Phoebe explained as they walked across the foyer, ‘along with those working on capturing Solaris and the others.’

  ‘Others?’ Alex asked.

  ‘Hans and Mac,’ Phoebe replied.

  ‘Mac?’ Alex said.

  ‘He was a member of the Dreamer Council and is based in the US Defense Department—so he’s a formidable competitor.’

  ‘I’ll get my team hacking his system, see what he knows,’ Shiva said. ‘And see if we can’t slow him down.’

  ‘Nice,’ Alex said. ‘Any word on Sam?’

  ‘I’ve heard he’s fine,’ Phoebe said as they walked deeper into the building, ‘and that the Academy has also relocated. They’re at their London campus.’

  ‘Are they still tracking Stella’s movements?’ Alex asked.

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ Phoebe replied. ‘As far as we can work out, she escaped in an attack helicopter to Austria and then made her escape via an unmarked aircraft on a flight path headed east.’

  ‘East?’ Shiva said. ‘That’s a pretty vague heading.’

  ‘Wait,’ Alex said, ‘are you saying we’ve lost her?’

  Phoebe stopped by an elevator. They got in and she pressed the top button.

  ‘I’m afraid so. Stella dropped off the radar as soon as she entered Russian airspace.’

  ‘Russia?’ Alex said. ‘What’s in Russia?’

  ‘Russians,’ Shiva joked.

  The lift doors pinged and they stepped out. The floor was already set up with several tables and an open-plan meeting office. Down at the far end, the Director was with several senior Agents, talking animatedly in serious tones, probably about Stella, Alex figured, judging by how dishevelled and concerned they all looked.

  After what she’s just done, they’re worried about what she might do next …

  11

  SAM

  The Professor’s laptop computer exploded midair, sending pieces of plastic and metal outwards in a rapidly expanding fireball that shattered the windows with an ear-splitting crash.

  For what felt like a long minute, no-one moved or spoke. The shock swirled around the room.

  ‘Is everybody OK?’ Lora finally asked, getting to her feet.

  Sam stood up slowly, turning to the others, who all seemed to be unhurt. Then he looked across at the smashed window panes. On the manicured grass below, the Professor’s laptop was little more than tiny pieces of plastic and metal shards and silicon chips, the charred remains scorched into the lawn.

  Lucky there were no students out there.

  ‘That was a message from Matrix,’ Tobias said, as two Guardians stormed into the room with dart guns drawn. ‘He must have planted an explosive in your computer and activated it remotely.’

  ‘I believe that was meant to do more than just give me a message, Tobias,’ the Professor said, still in shock himself. ‘And I took that laptop with me on my trip to meet with the Council in Paris, so it could have been planted by anyone there. Stella has many more people than just Matrix working with her. The Egyptian Guardians have shown a liking for blowing things up too.’

  Sam remembered back to that evening in New York, watching the Egyptian Guardians storming into the Museum of Natural History to blow up the Dream Stele.

  ‘Even I have underestimated just how cautious we all need to be—at all times,’ the Professor sighed.

  ‘We must search the entire campus in case there are any more explosives,’ Lora said, motioning over the two Guardians. She murmured urgent instructions to them. One quickly began relaying information via his handset while the other began sweeping the room with some kind of electronic device.

  ‘They’re scanning to see if there are any radio or remote waves,’ Lora explained. ‘And a full-scale search of the grounds is now underway.’

  ‘Do you think there could be more bombs?’ Eva asked. She was sitting down, pale, watching the Guardian check the room.

  ‘I could be wrong, but I don’t think so,’ Lora said. ‘That was very close. Compared to what happened at the Academy this attack seemed quite specifically directed at the Professor. Nevertheless I agree we all must take extra precautions.’

  The Guardians declared the room all clear and left to join the sweep of the grounds.

  ‘Yes, indeed, I believe that was meant for me,’ the Professor said, looking out the window, sadness in his eyes. ‘Perhaps it was a back-up plan, after the Switzerland attack. In all my time … I never thought that
it would come to this.’

  ‘Solaris, Stella, Hans and now Mac—they don’t play by the same rules as us,’ Tobias said.

  Sam was lost in his thoughts for a moment, running everything over again in his head. ‘It could have been planted even further back than Paris,’ he suggested, ‘just waiting for the day when it was needed.’

  The Professor nodded.

  Sam looked to Eva and saw that she was really spooked. He walked over to her and gave her a reassuring hug.

  ‘Well,’ the Professor said, ‘we can’t let them scare us into submission, we must push onwards. Time is clearly very much of the essence. Sam, I heard you’d had your next dream?’

  ‘I’ve seen the place, but I’m not sure exactly where it is—or who the next Dreamer is,’ Sam said, before adding, ‘it’s in Brazil, that much I know. I met Pablo, the Councillor, there.’

  ‘Maybe the person who tried to help you out of the water was the next Dreamer?’ Eva said.

  ‘Maybe,’ Sam said. Lora and the Professor exchanged a knowing look as Sam recounted the rest of his dream, from being with Pablo on the ferry, to struggling in the torrents of the Amazon amid the fiery wreck of the boat. He explained how he saw Solaris watching, satisfied, from the shore. And the reaching hands of the blurry figure that tried to save him.

  ‘I see … Sam, I think you should leave on the next flight to Brazil,’ the Professor said. Lora was already on her phone making travel arrangements.

  ‘Even though I couldn’t see who the Dreamer was?’

  The Professor nodded and said, ‘I have every faith that you will.’

  ‘Tobias,’ the Professor said, ‘please notify our colleagues at the Enterprise about our plans. We don’t want any further surprises or misunderstandings today.’

  Sam shook his head a little. It still didn’t feel right to be talking about working with the Enterprise, and giving them information. Sam could tell the others in the room felt the same way about the uneasy but necessary alliance that had been forced upon both sides.

  ‘At least having them onside should even up the playing field a little,’ Tobias said grimly.

  Maybe this really is our only way to win the race.

  ‘Jack has moved what’s left of the Enterprise operations to a new site in Amsterdam,’ Lora said, hanging up the phone. ‘I’ll liaise with them and organise how to move forward together.’

  ‘I’ll go with Sam to Brazil,’ Tobias announced. ‘We’ll meet up with Pablo, and try to find this next Dreamer.’

  ‘I’ll let Pablo know you’re on your way,’ the Professor said. ‘Jedi will set up the dream-reading computer package here as soon as he is able. He’s down at the boathouse setting up his new computer lab.’

  ‘Boathouse?’ Sam asked.

  ‘The rowing shed, down by the river,’ Lora explained, ‘just at the edge of the forest out there. Jedi has a lab set up there. He’s working to restore the back-up of all the Swiss Academy’s data.’

  ‘Sam, until the whole system is back online,’ the Professor said, ‘we will have to rely on all that you can remember from your dream.’

  ‘Well,’ Sam said, ‘I have remembered something else. The name of the ferry I was on, a bit of it, anyway. ‘I remember seeing part of a word—Roos—printed on a lifebuoy.’

  ‘Good work, Sam,’ the Professor said. ‘We will start looking into that here.’

  ‘I’ve got you, Tobias and Xavier on the first flight to Brazil in the morning,’ Lora said to Sam, after typing away furiously on her phone.

  ‘Xavier?’ Sam asked, puzzled.

  He looked to the Professor who simply smiled and said, ‘Yes, it would seem he may have a part to play.’

  ‘We received a call from Pablo yesterday to say a package had arrived at his university,’ Lora added, ‘It’s addressed to Xavier Dark, Junior.’

  ‘We must trust in these coincidences that are not coincidences at all,’ the Professor said.

  Sam nodded and said, ‘I understand. You can count on us.’

  ‘We’ll have Pablo meet us at the airport with all the Brazilian Guardians,’ Tobias said, standing. ‘Sam—let’s find Xavier, and get packed and ready.’

  ‘Wait, there’s something else,’ Sam said, standing and pausing by the door. ‘My backpack—it’s back in Monaco, with Hans.’

  ‘What was in there?’ Lora asked.

  ‘My phone. And on it, a copy of the maps that I found hidden in the Vatican library.’

  ‘So now Hans has a copy …’ Lora said, the revelation sitting heavy with her.

  ‘He would have found a way to get there anyway,’ the Professor said. ‘We just have to move faster. Are you sure you feel up to it, Sam?’

  ‘Going out into the field?’ Sam said. ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘Good,’ the Professor said. ‘We’ll see about steering your dreams back to the point where you woke up and see if you can see that next Dreamer.’

  ‘I can help with that,’ Tobias said.

  ‘Excellent.’ The Professor stood and looked at the damaged windows from the explosion. ‘Let’s meet again tonight, yes? Oh, and Sam, pop down to see Jedi if you have a moment before you leave, I think he has something for you.’

  12

  ‘Wow!’ Sam said, looking around at the unexpected sight.

  The boathouse of the Academy’s London campus looked ordinary on the outside, a squat timber structure by the river filled with old boats covered in a good layer of dust and cobwebs. It was what he found down the steep stone stairs, after following the tracks in the dust, which astonished him.

  The old wooden shed was merely a shell for a very hi-tech basement. Several leather lounge chairs were grouped around a glass-topped coffee table, while music pumped through from the shiny stereo perched on the shelf on the far wall. The rest of the space was taken over by computer tables already covered in screens and equipment, some set up, some in the process of being unpacked from large steel cases.

  ‘Yo, Sam!’ Jedi exclaimed at once. He was shorter than Sam, twenty-something, with a patchy beard and scruffy hair to match. ‘Good to see you, my man.’

  ‘Hey, Jedi, you too,’ Sam said, gazing around the room. There were hundreds of boxes of game consoles being unpacked and sorted by a class of senior students. ‘Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you.’

  ‘Yep,’ Jedi replied, pointing and directing where the consoles were to be lined up and connected. ‘I heard you got into a bit of a jam on that last trip.’

  ‘Yeah, few times,’ Sam said. ‘Still, nothing like what you had goin’ on.’

  ‘Too true,’ Jedi sighed. ‘But tell me, how was the jump from the Eiffel Tower?’ His eyes went wide with anticipation.

  ‘Pretty horrifying,’ Sam began, his voice deadpan before breaking into a grin and adding, ‘but then totally awesome!’

  ‘I knew it!’ Jedi clapped Sam on the back. ‘Good work, man. Now …’ He plugged in more power boards and sparks leapt out, the lights overhead flickering. He looked at Sam and followed his gaze. The set-up here seemed far less sophisticated than Jedi’s lab in the Swiss mountains.

  ‘I miss Old Betsy,’ Jedi said, sitting down to lean back in his chair. ‘She was my first. Supercomputer that is. Can’t believe she’s gone …’ Jedi trailed off and Sam didn’t quite know what to say.

  If this is where Jedi and the Academy are going to take the digital fight to Matrix, then we might be in trouble.

  ‘Well,’ Jedi said, ‘as soon as I get this system up and running, I am going to war. I’ll start with some denial-of-service attacks. Get Matrix offline and try my hardest to keep him offline.’

  ‘Nice,’ Sam said, watching students unpack console after console.

  ‘How’s that new phone of yours?’ Jedi asked, typing commands into a nearby keyboard.

  ‘Oh, um …’ Sam stalled, before sheepishly confessing that he no longer had it. ‘It wasn’t my fault this time—Hans’ guys took it.’

  ‘Hmm, right,’ Jedi sa
id, then went to a steel locker and rummaged noisily in the shelves. ‘I know I have something in here … somewhere …’

  ‘I can get a new one at the airport,’ Sam replied, not wanting to add to Jedi’s long list of things to do.

  ‘Aha!’ Jedi emerged from the locker and held out the largest, most ridiculous-looking mobile phone Sam had ever seen. It had a large black box connected to a phone via a spiral cord.

  ‘That’s …’

  ‘Awesome, I know,’ Jedi said, plugging it in and switching it on. ‘Developed it as one of my first projects, when I was still a student at the Academy.’

  ‘What, in the 1900s?’ Sam said, laughing.

  ‘Very funny. I’m not that old.’

  ‘Seriously though, this is the size and weight of a phone book. In fact, I’ve seen phone booths smaller than this.’

  ‘I know—it’s cool, right? It’s totally retro hipster awesome. Everyone will be jealous of you with this baby held to your ear!’ His eyes gleamed with genuine enthusiasm. ‘These were used for about five years by all Academy staff, but then discontinued because they were considered too dangerous.’

  ‘Dangerous, huh?’ Sam said, looking closer at it. ‘What, its internal combustion engine was giving people headaches? Or microwaving their brains? Nuking their neural pathways?’

  ‘Nothing of the sort,’ Jedi said, defensively. ‘It’s the Swiss Army knife of phones, before smartphones. Here, put your thumb on the screen.’

  Sam did so and a light scanner flickered underneath it. The screen came up with chunky green text on a black screen.

  Welcome, Sam, to a new world of communications.

  ‘So the greeting is a little lame,’ Jedi said, fiddling with the controls.

  ‘How does it know who I am?’

  ‘It’s tapped into the wireless network here.’

  ‘Nice. But I still don’t see what’s so dangerous about it.’