by James Phelan
‘Sam!’ Tobias said urgently but quietly for fear of triggering a cave-in. ‘Are you alright?’
Sam nodded his head, still settling his heart-rate and breathing. The white-grey dust cascaded from his hair and face with the movement. He continued to suck deeply at the fresh air outside the ship.
‘I fell through the deck …’ Sam said.
‘Yes, we heard,’ Maria said, halfway up the rope net. ‘I’ll come up to your level, climb through a cannon hatch.’
‘Go slowly,’ Sam replied. ‘The air’s thick inside here, dust everywhere. Can’t hardly see, let alone breathe.’
Tobias stayed down below, rummaging through his dive pack and pulling out some stick flares. He broke one and set it upright into the sand, the cave illuminated in its bright red glow.
‘I’ll come up in a minute,’ he said, and he once again held his torch to help Maria with her climb up the net. Maria fitted easily through the first cannon hatch, but she quickly reappeared, leaning out and coughing against the dust-storm still inside. She shone her flashlight down over the net for Tobias to make his ascent. Sam watched as the rope net gave out under Tobias’ weight three times, but he eventually made it all the way up to the deck level above.
‘I’ll scout around up here,’ Tobias called down.
‘Stick to the edges,’ Sam yelled out, ‘where the boards will have more support.’
‘Ha, ha,’ Tobias said with a mock laugh. ‘You two work from the bottom deck up. The Gear could be anywhere but keep a look out for navigational equipment.’
‘On it,’ Sam said, looking down the ship’s length to see Maria still peering out of a hatch like he was. ‘Maria, can you remember where to search for the Gear from your dream?’
‘Not exactly—it looked like a stateroom, but that could be anywhere.’
‘OK. Well, you check that way and I’ll go down here,’ Sam suggested, pointing to the back of the ship.
‘Sure,’ Maria replied, disappearing for a moment, and then emerging again. ‘The dust has nearly settled.’
‘And tell me if you see anything that might be recent,’ Maria said to them. ‘Any sign of my papa.’
‘Got it,’ Sam said.
Sam shone his torch around the ship. He could not see Maria up ahead inside the lower gun level through the haze, but could easily make out the beam of light from her torch sweeping around. Sam inched towards the stern. There were large cannonballs in neat rows in wooden holders, timber crates and lots of tools, and a wooden wall with a door that creaked open.
They put this in a cave to weather out a storm, and what—just left it here? It makes no sense. I mean, where would the crew go without a boat?
By the light of the torch, Sam could see that he was in a storeroom. There were empty barrels and caskets, sacks of dried beans petrified with age, and jars and bowls scattered all over the floor.
The far wall had another door, which led to a room with two smaller cannons, pointing out of the back of the boat. He pushed open a hatch and could see outside to the little rocky outcrop from where they’d come. The flare continued to burn and light up the cave. Beyond the tranquil pool of water, the caved-in part of the wall loomed up into the darkness. The more Sam stared from this closer vantage point, the more detail he could make out. Timbers stretched from one side of the rocky stone wall to the other, tethered together with ropes. Smaller boulders, stones and mortar filled the gaps making up the wall.
That part of the wall looks like it’s man-made.
‘Guess that accounts for the missing masts,’ Maria said, standing next to Sam.
‘Why would they do that?’ Sam said.
‘Run their ship aground in here and then make sure it’s hidden away?’ Maria said.
Sam nodded. ‘And spend all that time and effort to block up the entrance. Even with a full crew, that would take days, weeks maybe.’
‘It’s a mystery,’ Maria said, shrugging. She went to a ladder leading up to the deck above. ‘Come on.’
Sam followed her up the ladder to the next gun deck, which was equipped with more small cannons. At the far end of the deck were the crew quarters. Everything in there seemed stripped bare.
‘Looks like the crew took everything they could,’ Maria said. ‘Maybe they hid the ship here so as not to lose it to an enemy, or sink it, and they planned to come back and get it later.’
‘But how did they get away? On another ship?’
‘Maybe. Many of the early explorers and crew would get sick or die, so they probably had more ships than crew for the return voyage. And for some reason, they never came back.’
They walked along the gun deck to the stern, navigating through a jungle of ropes hanging from the ceiling, and then took the stairs to the upper decks. From the main deck, Maria peered down through the Sam-sized hole that ended two decks down.
‘Maybe you’ve been eating too much chocolate,’ Maria said to him with a smile.
‘Hey!’ Sam replied. They headed for the rear cabin, where the door was open and the glow of Tobias’ flashlight was dancing about inside. ‘So you’re saying I’m heavy?’
‘You are the only one who has fallen through the deck.’
‘Yeah, well, that was a weak point in the wood or somethi—’
Sam’s foot shot through another rotted-out timber deck. He delicately pulled it back through the splintered timber, trying not to make it worse for himself. Maria laughed as they entered the small, dark room.
‘This looks like the first-mate’s cabin,’ Tobias said without looking their way. He was studying the contents of a large cabinet. ‘The captain’s cabin is probably beyond that door.’
Sam looked to where Tobias shone his light. ‘So you haven’t been through there?’ he asked.
‘It’s locked,’ Tobias said. ‘I’m looking around for a key or something we can use to—’
There was an almighty crash and Tobias and Sam snapped their heads around in unison, in time to see Maria kick the door off its hinges.
They both looked at her, speechless.
Maria smiled sweetly. ‘We want to get in, don’t we?’
27
ALEX
The heavy doors clunked shut behind them and Alex locked them manually, his hands still shaking and his breathing unsteady.
‘That should hold them for a while,’ Alex said.
‘Can’t they hack the code like you just did?’ Phoebe asked.
‘Not without this,’ Alex said, holding out a small silicon chip and putting it into his pocket.
Rick swiftly tied up the arm of a wounded Agent. Another was on the ground, dragged in by his comrades but out cold. The others were nearly out of ammo.
The lights flickered noisily overhead, off, then on … then off again, for good.
Darkness. They turned their flashlights back on.
‘Could it be Solaris out there?’ Rick asked.
‘Could be, but Stella seems to be doing his dirty work so it’s more likely to be her,’ Phoebe said.
‘I’d sure like to have a word with her, if it is,’ Rick said, gritting his teeth in anger. ‘But we’d need more ammo to take her down.’
‘There were too many of them,’ Phoebe said.
‘What is this place?’ Alex asked, taking several paces down the corridor and looking through a glass wall into …
Is that a lab?
He walked further down until he found a door and entered. ‘It looks like a science lab. Or maybe some kind of medical lab.’
‘Gene research,’ Phoebe said, coming in to stand next to him. ‘In its time, it was the most advanced genetics lab in the world.’
Alex didn’t reply. He felt sick. Before him, along a wall, were tall glass jars full of …
What are they?
‘During the gene research here in the 1950s and 60s,’ Phoebe said, ‘they were experimenting—’
‘On people?’ Alex interrupted.
‘On creating Dreamers,’ Phoebe corrected.
> ‘Then these are all …’ Alex’s voice trailed off as his flashlight hovered over the glass containers.
‘Early prototypes,’ Phoebe said with a sad voice. ‘Those who didn’t make it.’
Alex was lost for words.
‘We gotta hustle!’ Rick called into the room. ‘They’re cutting through the door!’
‘Come on,’ Phoebe said, putting an arm around her son. ‘Let’s go. We need to search the offices and see what’s there.’
Alex let himself be led away from the macabre sight before him, though he couldn’t help but feel guilty. He had survived to become a Dreamer with a loving mother, when so many before him had not lived to see or experience anything of life at all.
As they hurried back down the corridor, Alex turned to see sparks erupting through the cut in the door.
‘Hurry!’ Rick yelled. ‘Faster!’
Room after room, lab after lab, Alex and his mother searched, seeing more things that Alex didn’t want to know about. Phoebe led the way through the laboratories, repeatedly asking Alex if he felt any sense of having been there in a dream.
‘If there is a Gear here, I don’t think I’m going to find it,’ Alex said. ‘We should focus on getting to the vault and finding the code book. Seeing all this is making me feel sick.’
‘Sweetheart …’
‘No!’ Alex said. ‘All this was part of some Enterprise program to create Dreamers like me. And I’m here today because of it, right?’
‘It’s more complicated than that.’
‘Is it? Or is it really simple?’ Alex said. ‘I see it as someone was here playing God. Playing around with DNA. Experimenting in the dark. It’s … it’s disgusting. How could you sign up for this?’
‘All this gave me you, and for that I am grateful,’ she said.
Alex looked away. ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘let’s get out of here.’
Back out in the corridor, Alex saw that Rick and his men had built a barricade of steel cabinets and tables in front of the door.
‘There’s nothing here. We have to find another way out!’ Phoebe called to Rick.
‘Two minutes!’ an Agent called out. Alex looked over and saw the sparking burn of the blowtorches. They were nearly through the door.
‘We’re out of options,’ Phoebe said to Rick.
‘Agreed,’ Rick said.
‘OK, come with me, Alex,’ Phoebe said, examining the schematics of the complex. ‘We have to follow the emergency air shaft out. There’s a coded door near the top of the ridge where we should be able to get out.’
‘We can’t leave them here!’ Alex said.
Rick smiled and put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. ‘Yes, you can.’
‘You’re outnumbered—’
‘We’re trained for this,’ Rick said. ‘We’ll hold them here as long as we can, then blow this exit and follow you out. Go!’
28
SAM
The captain’s stateroom was impressive. Compared to the small, cramped dark rooms of the rest of the ship, this was spacious. It stretched the full width of the boat and had shuttered windows all around. There was a bed in one corner, a hammock and bench seat. Cabinets lined the walls filled with journals, keepsakes, supplies and clothes, and a large desk stood by the rear windows.
And one captain.
‘That’s …’ Sam said, looking at the skeleton in the chair behind the desk.
‘Amazing!’ Maria said.
‘Disgusting,’ Sam said. ‘Eurgh.’
The two of them peered at the dust-covered skeleton from a distance, all the colour sucked out of his clothes from five centuries of salty air.
‘How’d he die, do you think?’ Sam said.
‘Too much booze,’ Tobias said, picking up a bottle from the table. ‘This stuff will kill you.’
‘Oh,’ Sam said. ‘Maybe he decided to stay with the ship to protect the Gear?’
Maria’s expression changed and she cocked her head to one side before walking towards the desk and the skeleton. She began opening the desk drawers, checking through each one carefully before moving onto the next. Sam and Tobias stood still, watching her.
‘Maria?’ Sam said.
She said nothing, continuing her meticulous search, going through the many drawers one-by-one, running down the sides of the desk. When she got to the last one she shook her head in frustration and began the search again, starting at the first drawer.
‘Maria?’ Sam said again.
She stopped, as though glued to the spot next to the captain. ‘I know it’s here. It feels familiar, but different. I think—I think I can’t remember my dream so well.’
‘That’s OK,’ Sam said. ‘Take your time.’
‘Remember, it may not look exactly like you saw it,’ Tobias added. ‘It may be a part of something else.’
Sam moved around to the back of the desk and began searching cupboards and drawers behind. He was careful not to get in Maria’s way or distract her as she tried to recall the details of her dream more clearly.
‘Ah, guys …’ Sam said.
Tobias looked over to Sam, then Maria.
Sam said, ‘Take a look at this.’
Sam kept his light on the top of the desk, where a piece of paper rested in the dust. It certainly was not from the sixteenth century. It was written in Spanish in marker pen, and the only word Sam could understand was the first—Maria.
‘It’s from my papa!’ Maria said excitedly.
‘What does it say?’ Sam asked, looking at the Spanish words, uncomprehending.
While Maria read the note, Tobias held his smartphone over the letter, using an app to translate.
Maria,
If you have found this, it means that you are searching, for me or that which you have dreamed of. I tried to spare you the danger but I have failed. I cannot stay any longer to search. I have some supplies to make a raft. I will follow the islands home. Be careful.
Love, Papa.
‘I knew it. He’s alive!’ she shouted, and the noise echoed inside the room.
‘I don’t understand. How’d he get into this room?’ Sam said, looking back at the door that hadn’t been opened in five hundred years until Maria had smashed it down.
‘Through here,’ Tobias said, and Maria and Sam joined him at a window where a little grapple hook with knotted rope dangled down to the sand.
‘So what do we do now?’ Sam asked.
‘We call our friends and we carry on looking for the Gear,’ Tobias said. ‘Tell them to wait for us while we start island hopping in search of Maria’s dad—sorry, what’s his name?’
‘Chris,’ Maria said from across the room.
‘We search for Chris.’
‘Use my phone,’ Sam said, taking his large handset from his dive bag.
‘Ah, that’s an oldie,’ Tobias said, looking at the huge phone Sam held out to him. ‘We used them in the field way back when. Jedi give you this?’
Sam nodded. ‘Actually, better not. Jedi made this one bite a little.’
‘Aha, I can just imagine,’ Tobias said, pulling out his own phone and dialling.
‘Guys?’ Maria said, from behind them.
Tobias’ face changed as he listened intently on the phone, then a moment later he looked at it, then ended the call.
‘Guys?’ Maria repeated.
‘What’s up?’ Sam said to Tobias, guessing it was something serious.
‘Everyone on Maria’s boat has been placed under guard by some Cuban coastguards,’ Tobias replied. ‘It seems they’re acting under someone’s instructions.’
‘Sam!’ Maria said. ‘Look.’
‘Stella?’ Sam asked, too alarmed to answer Maria. ‘Or Hans?’
‘Xavier didn’t say. He had to get off the line before they noticed. He did manage to tell me that one of the Guardians made a distress call to the Academy. So backup should arrive from the US and hopefully the Professor can pull some diplomatic strings too,’ Tobias replied. ‘But they sure c
an’t help us right now. We’re as good as marooned down here.’
‘Guys!’
Sam and Tobias finally looked at Maria. Light glinted from the object she was holding in her hands.
The Gear!
‘This is it,’ Maria said. ‘It’s more beautiful than I dreamed.’
Sam reached over and traced over the numeral with his finger. They shared a knowing smile.
Eight. We’re really getting there.
‘Now we go and find my papa,’ Maria said.
‘But how did you …’ Sam said.
‘I just felt that I had to look inside the captain’s jacket, and it was there.’
‘Genius,’ Sam said.
‘We need to get out of here,’ Tobias said.
‘How?’ Sam asked.
‘I don’t know …’ Tobias replied, looking lost. ‘I don’t know.’
‘I do,’ said Maria. ‘We have to follow my father’s footsteps.’
29
EVA
‘Here we are,’ Mac said, pointing down to a sprawling complex on the edge of an industrial park.
Eva looked out the window as the helicopter came in to land. The place was overrun with rust and weeds and other signs that it had long ago been abandoned. A row of rusted tanks stood like statues inside the perimeter of the security fence. Their pilot touched down on the asphalt of the desolate car park. Mac, Julia, Lora and Eva climbed out of the aircraft, heads low, and ran to the nearest building, where eight men from Mac’s security detachment waited.
‘We got here late,’ Mac’s security chief said. ‘We found a few men out cold.’
He passed a dart over to Mac, its sharp end snapped off.
‘Looks like Stella’s here,’ Mac said. ‘And she’s up against the Academy and the Enterprise. We must move fast.’
‘We’ve found another way into the complex,’ the chief said. ‘The air ducts, up near the ridge line.’
‘Then let’s go,’ Mac said.
The security team formed a protective circle around the four of them as they moved towards a dense tree line.