Dreamer

First Bellerophon landing party

“We were right,” Dr. Say said. Her smile was uncharacteristic and small. “Sejal was still carrying the retrovirus. There was plenty in the blood sample Garinn took. He used it as a template for the new one and we injected it into the next set of children last night.”

Padric clacked his beak and settled brown feathers. His talons gripped the perch in the stone room he had called up. Dr. Say sat on her backless stool, hands folded neatly in her lap. Only the slight flush and tiny smile indicated her great excitement. Padric, however, refused to share in it. He would not celebrate until the project reached its culmination. The window beside Padric displayed, as always, the roiling blackness, and the usual whispering in the Dream was all but silent now.

“We estimate,” Dr. Say concluded, “that the children will begin entering the Dream sometime within the hour.”

“Good,” he said, the word issuing oddly from his beak. “The Dream is growing worse. Fewer Silent are using it. Not even Dreamers, Inc. employees enter lightly. Most of the traffic is military. The Unity will officially declare war on the Independence Confederation in less than a day, and they’re trying to drag five or six other governments into the morass.”

“They won’t succeed,” Dr. Say said coolly. “The project will-”

Dr. Say never finished her sentence. With a yelp, she vanished from the Dream. Padric blinked in surprise, then reached cautiously out of the Dream, feeling for her mind in the real world. He couldn’t find it. Padric clacked his beak, uncertain if he should be worried or not. Reaching real world minds was not one of his better talents, especially when the minds in question were human, so the fact that he couldn’t find her didn’t mean much. The problem was probably completely mundane. Dr. Say’s drugs may have worn off unexpectedly, or someone from the lab may have awoken her so she could deal with some laboratory emergency.

After several minutes, Padric reluctantly concluded that she wasn’t coming back. He would have to check with her later. No doubt she was fine, and the explanation was perfectly innocent.

Dr. Jillias Say stared at the rod Vidya was leveling at her. Vidya put a note of steel in her voice.

“If you fail to do exactly as I tell you,” Vidya said, “I will give you another jolt, a stronger one. It will stun you and it will hurt.”

“What-” Dr. Say’s voice squeaked and she cleared her throat. “What do you want? How did you get into my office?”

“Get up,” Vidya replied. “Come with me.”

Say slowly got to her feet. Vidya kept the cattle prod pointed steadily at her. They were in Say’s office, a spare place with only desk, chair, computer terminal, and couch. Say had been lying “asleep” on the latter when Vidya came in. It had been simple enough to use the cattle prod to short out the lock. One look at the dermo-spray on the cushion beside Say was all Vidya needed. Say was indeed Silent, and she had been in the Dream.

Vidya ushered Say out into the genetics lab. Stainless steel glistened, machines hummed. The walls were a spotless white tile. Adrenaline hummed through Vidya’s veins and she had to work to keep her hands from shaking. Dr. Kri, Max Garinn, and all eleven slaves sat motionless on the floor against one wall. The wrists, mouths, and ankles of two of the slaves were bound with silver tape. Katsu was busy taping up a third. None of them resisted. Sejal, perched on a stool, stared at them with glassy eyes. Prasad, meanwhile, was muttering to a computer terminal in the corner.

“What did you learn?” Vidya asked him.

Prasad’s mouth was tight. “We’re too late. They did it last night.”

A pang went through Vidya’s stomach and she almost dropped the cattle prod.

“You’re trying to stop the project?” Say said incredulously. “Why?”

“Your project, whatever it is, will destroy the Dream.” Vidya let some of her anger slip into her voice. “Don’t you know what that would do?”

“Of course I know.” Two spots of angry color appeared on Say’s pale cheeks. “Destroying the Dream is the whole point!”

Vidya’s hand tightened on the prod. “We’d guessed that.”

Prasad came over to join them. His face was grave. In the background, Katsu continued plying her roll of tape. “What exactly do you think destroying the Dream would accomplish?” he asked in his quiet voice.

“It would end war!” Say almost shouted.

Prasad shook his head so calmly Vidya irrationally wanted to slap him. Then she realized he was only trying to keep her talking so Katsu could finish her work.

“I do not understand,” Prasad said. “Please explain.”

“The Dream allows instant communication between planets and governments.” Say leaned back against one of the stone worktables. Vidya kept the cattle prod pointed at her. “Empires and armies are based on instantaneous communication. Without it, they’d fall apart. Don’t you see? The Dream allows interplanetary rule and interplanetary warfare. Without the Dream, communication would be slowed to the speed and availability of courier ships. The governments-all of them-aren’t used to that. Without the Dream, admirals couldn’t communicate between ships and relay orders. Heads of government couldn’t communicate with satellite planets. Once the Dream is destroyed, war will end.”

Vidya’s temper rose again. “You are foolish to think so.”

“It will end the war between the Unity and the Independence Confederation,” Say shot back.

That stopped Vidya cold. “What?”

“Didn’t you know?” Say said almost sweetly. “The Unity just declared war on the Confederation. Troups and ships are already moving. Allies on both sides are gearing up as well. Billions of lives are at stake. I can-the project can-save them.”

“No,” Prasad said firmly. “The project won’t save billions. It will destroy trillions. Perhaps more.”

Now it was Say’s turn to look confused. “I don’t understand.”

“The Dream is more than a mere communication system,” he told her. “It creates a shared empathy and concern for our fellow beings. Without the Dream, there can be no compassion, no love, no joy. People will prey on one another. No one will care enough to raise children, or even have them. Within a few generations, all sentient life will simply fade away. Compared to this, war is as nothing.”

Say looked at him. She was still leaning against the worktable. Vidya realized her right hand, the one that held the cattle prod, was beginning to ache, and she risked switching it to her left.

“I don’t believe you,” Say said at last. “You’re lying to try to make me change my mind. I won’t. I watched my parents and my brother die in the famine. I saw my mother and sister raped to death by Unity soldiers. The project will destroy the Unity-” she spat “-for good.”

Prasad’s brown eyes were implacable. “It will also destroy Rust and every other civilization in the universe.”

“I still say you’re lying.”

“You can let go now, Sejal,” Katsu said, and Vidya turned her head to look. The slaves, Kri, and Garinn were well taped. Sejal blinked, then stood up and cracked his knuckles. As one, the prisoners widened their eyes and made muffled grunts and cries.

“We won’t hurt you,” Katsu told them. “We will release you as soon as we are finished here.”

“You can’t do anything,” Say said. “The final phase of the project is already underway. The next set of children will enter the Dream any moment now, if they haven’t already, and they will destroy it.”

Vidya’s temper broke. She balled up a fist and smashed Say’s face. Say’s head snapped back under the impact. Vidya’s knuckles stung. Say grabbed the tabletop with one hand and put the other to her mouth. It came away smeared with blood.

“Bitch,” she spat. “I’m glad you lost.”

Vidya was about to reply when Prasad laid a hand on her arm. “My wife should remain calm. Remember, we have a plan of our own.”

“You can’t stop the project,” Say almost laughed.

“No?” Vidya gestured at the door that lead to the Nursery. “Did you, then, find a way to let the Silent enter the Dream from cryo-sleep?”

Say’s pale eyes went wide. “You can’t.”

“You are mistaken.” Vidya put out her hand. “Katsu, would you bring me the tape please? Then you and your brother can help us with the children.”

Say backed up a step. A trickle of blood oozed from the corner of her mouth. “I won’t let you.”

“You can’t stop us,” Vidya said with a hint of mean gladness at the horrified look on Say’s face. “Please hold still. I am going to tape you up, and it would be very painful for you if I had to use the cattle prod first.”

“Tessa!” Say barked. “Emergency lockdown with password release. All files and access. Activate emergency alert system. Scramble all-”

Vidya leaped forward and thumbed the cattle prod trigger. A spark snapped and Say collapsed to the floor with a cry of pain. Kri tried to shout something, but it was muffled by the tape over his mouth.

“Acknowledged,” replied the computer. “Emergency lockdown in progress. Alert system activated.”

“Tessa!” Prasad ordered. “Abort emergency lockdown.”

“Access denied. Insufficient security clearance.”

“Shit!” Sejal said. He ran over to Say’s limp form.

“The new children are entering the Dream,” Katsu said. “I can feel them.”

Vidya’s insides twisted and she resisted the impulse to fling the cattle prod away. Stupid! She had been so stupid! It had been foolishness itself to tell Say what they were planning before immobilizing her. Now an entire universe would pay for her mistake.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“We need to force her to release the lockdown,” Prasad said. “Otherwise the computer won’t activate the cryo-units.”

“The children are screaming.” Katsu headed for the door that lead to the Nursery. “I have to go into the Dream.”

Vidya knelt next to Sejal, who was checking Say’s pulse. He gasped when he touched her, further proof she was Silent.

“The woman’s a fanatic,” Vidya said. “We can’t persuade her with words. Are there any drugs in the labs we could use?”

“No,” Prasad replied. “And I wouldn’t know how to use them if there were.”

“Dammit!” Vidya pounded the cold tile floor with her aching fist. “One woman. This one woman stands in our way and we can’t force her to do what’s right.”

“You can’t,” Sejal said beside her. “But I can.”

“Possessing her won’t help,” Vidya objected. “It won’t tell you what the password is.”

“There are other things I can do, Mom,” Sejal said.

The Dream was almost empty. Kendi stood naked at the mouth of his cave, letting the good heat of the sun bake into his bones. He knew he shouldn’t stay long, but it was such a relief to feel the Dream around him. His toes dug into the sandy soil. The scrubby vegetation of the Outback stretched away beneath the azure sky. And in the distance was the dark place.

Ara was dead. The thought pierced him like a spear, ripping through heart and lungs with a white-hot edge. She couldn’t be dead. She was Mother Adept Araceil Rymar do Salman Reza. His teacher. His friend. His second mother.

The Real People saw death as something natural, nothing to grieve about. But all he knew was that it hurt. He felt trapped, hemmed in by grief and sorrow.

“Keeeennndiiii.”

The harsh voice sent a chill down Kendi’s spine.

“Keeeennndiiii.”

He was sitting on a hard stone floor. It was cold under his buttocks. The air had turned damp and it was filled with smells of garbage and human waste. Metal bars pressed against the knobs of his spine.

Kendi lifted his head. It was the Unity prison cell. Kendi’s eyes went wide and he pushed himself back against the bars. This wasn’t real. He was here but he wanted to be there.

The cell remained. Nine metal bunks were stacked three high against the walls. A crude and filthy toilet stood in the corner. Cries and conversation echoed from other cells. Six other men and four women, one of whom was pregnant, were crowded into this one. A knife blade glinted in the shadows and one of the women screamed, a high, horrible sound. It was followed by a tiny, mewling noise. Blood splashed to the ground. Kendi stared at it.

“Keeeennndiiii. Loony, loony Keeeeennndiiii!”

Kendi wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked in the corner.

Sejal sat on the floor next to Say, who glared daggers at Vidya. She had managed to pull herself into a sitting position against one leg of the worktable. Her black hair had come loose from the braid coiled above her neck and her face was pale.

“Do what you want,” she croaked. “I won’t release the computer.”

“Look at me, Dr. Say,” Sejal said. “Look at me now.”

Almost like a puppet, Say turned her head to look at Sejal. He was staring intently at her with those strange blue eyes. The grave look on his face made him look very adult and handome, like his father. Vidya mentally shook her head. Now was not the time for such things. She wondered if Katsu had reached the Dream yet and if she were having any impact on the children in the Nursery.

“Dr. Say,” Sejal said softly, “I know you don’t like my mother. But you like me, don’t you?”

After a long moment, Say nodded. Sejal reached out and ran the back of his finger down Say’s cheek. She shuddered delicately. Vidya stared. Where had Sejal learned that gesture? The answer followed almost immediately on the question and nausea bubbled in her stomach. Behind them, Prasad shuffled his feet.

“Dr. Say. Jillias,” Sejal murmured. “Do you love me?”

Say nodded again. A little color returned to her face, and she gazed at Sejal with rapt adoration. Vidya was certain she was going to throw up.

“Jillias,” Sejal said. “Will you do me a little favor? Please?”

“Yes, Sejal,” she murmured. “Anything for you.”

“Release the computer. Would you do that? For me?”

A long pause, and then a nod. “Tessa,” she said, “lift emergency lockdown.”

“Acknowledged,” the computer said. “Lockdown lifted. Access restored.”

A great weight lifted from Vidya’s shoulders. She scrambled to her feet and turned to Prasad. “We need to begin working with the children.”

“That won’t help,” Say said dreamily from the floor. Sejal was holding her hand.

“What do you mean?” Prasad asked sharply.

“The Unity is coming,” Say told them.

“What?” Vidya, Prasad, and Sejal’s voices spoke as one.

“I activated the emergency alert system.” Say’s hand crept up to smooth Sejal’s dark hair. Vidya wanted to slap her. “It calls the Unity guard in case of a life-or-death emergency, like if we spring a leak and can’t get to the submersile. Better arrest than death. They’ll be here within the hour, my love.”

Vidya stared at her in horror and hatred. The desire to throttle the stupid woman was so strong, her ears were ringing. Before she could move, however, Prasad’s gentle hand landed on her shoulder.

“If we have little time,” he said, “then we must hurry.”

Practicality won out. Vidya tossed the roll of tape to Sejal. “Tape her up, then come help us in the Nursery.”

Sejal obeyed. Dr. Say accepted his ministrations without comment as Vidya and Prasad left the lab and went into the Nursery. When they reached the first glassed-off area, the one with the oldest children behind it, Vidya saw that every one of them was squirming and convulsing. Not one of them made a sound. Katsu sat in the room’s rocking chair, her eyes shut. Prasad opened the door to the glassed-off area. The only sound was the soft beeping of medical monitors and the eerie rustle of bedclothes sliding over convulsive flesh. The sound made the hair on the back of Vidya’s neck stand up.

“Where are the children that Max Garinn injected with his virus?” Vidya asked. “We should begin with them.”

Prasad quickly lead her down the hallway to another glassed-off Nursery. Eight beds held eight wizened figures. Six of them were squirming against their restraints, eyes tightly shut. The other two appeared comatose.

“Each bed has a cryo-unit beneath it,” Prasad said, moving into the room. “We need to slide it out and put the child inside. The computer will do the rest.”

Vidya followed as Prasad reached under the first bed. A black coffin-sized unit slid out and he pressed a release. The top slid open. Vidya began disconnecting the life support units. Touching the dry skin made her flesh shudder. Grimly she ignored the sensation and helped Prasad undo the child’s restraints. It was a girl, thin and wrinkled.

One little foot lashed out and caught Vidya in the stomach. Breath left her in a whoof. The girl fought and gnashed her teeth but made no sound. She was surprisingly strong, and it took some effort to wrestle her into the cryo-unit. The lid slid shut. There was a whooshing sound, and the glass fogged with condensation. Prasad wiped it away. The girl lay quietly in the unit, to all appearances peacefully asleep.

Vidya realized she was sweating and her stomach hurt where the girl had kicked her. She glanced at Prasad, who looked equally disheveled.

“Only thirty-eight more, my wife,” Prasad said.

Vidya nodded and they turned together toward the second child.

Sejal stuck the last piece of tape over Say’s mouth. Her emotions were a tangle. When he touched her with the back of his finger, he had seen the small part of her that found him physically attractive. It hadn’t been much of a stretch to touch the emotion and make it coil around her like a mutant jungle vine until she would willingly do whatever he asked. The look she gave him, one of total adoration mixed with red lust, made him feel a bit sick. The moment the gag was in place, he let go of the emotion and it snapped back to its original state. Her eyes flickered as the false love died, replaced by confusion, then anger, then rage.

“Sorry,” Sejal said. “But we couldn’t have you locking down the computer again.”

He left her then, moving quickly toward the Nursery. Mom and Prasad would need all the help they could ~Sejal.~

Sejal stopped cold. “Hello?”

— Sejal, it is Katsu.~ The voice was tense.

Sejal shook his head. Kendi had told him about whispering, of course, but he had never felt someone speak inside his mind like this.

“What’s wrong, Katsu?” he asked aloud.

— I need your help. The new children are entering the Dream, and they’re all angry. They’re going to spread out and I can’t stop them. I need your help. Quickly! They’re splitting apart!~

Sejal’s heart lurched. He dashed past the other taped-up prisoners and into the Nursery area. Katsu’s body sat in a rocking chair in the first room. In the second, Mom and Prasad were wrestling a struggling child into a cryo-unit. Sejal did some quick math and realized it would take hours to get every child into a unit if they all struggled and fought. But what if…?

He stared at the children in the Nursery and reached toward them with his mind. If he blanked them out, they would stop struggling and Mom and Prasad could get them into the units more easily. More importantly, they wouldn’t tear up the Dream. Sejal reached.

He felt nothing. No minds. The only people he could sense were his parents.

— Because their minds are in the Dream, Sejal!~ Katsu shouted. ~I need you here. Help me!~

Sejal poked his head into the Nursery. “Mom! Katsu needs me in the Dream. I’m going in.”

Before Vidya could respond, Sejal slid to the floor. His insides were tightly wound, and he wondered if he would be able to concentrate enough to reach the Dream. But after two deep breaths, Kendi’s training took over. The outer world faded away, and Sejal reached for the Dream.

He expected his seashore, and was therefore startled to find himself standing in front of the black place. Screams, angry and hungry, crashed over him and he put his hands to his ears.

“Katsu!” he shouted over the noise. “Katsu!”

Even as he shouted her name, he realized he knew exactly where she was. He had touched her in the real world, of course, and that now allowed him to find her in the Dream. She was in the center of the black place.

Sejal hesitated, hands over his ears. When he had played the flute for Katsu, he hadn’t actually entered the blackness. The angry, horrible screams worked their way into his head, and the darkness boiled. Figures moved inside it, and he felt their hunger and their sickness. Evey instinct Sejal had told him to flee far and fast. But Katsu was in there and she was fine. Sejal was her brother, and they were both half-sibling to the children. What worked for her should work for him.

Sejal took a deep breath and tensed himself to leap into the blackness. Before he could do it, however, another cry filtered its way through the noise. Sejal froze. He had felt it more than he had heard it. It was a desperate cry for help, and voice was powerfully familiar. It came from above. Sejal looked up and saw a falcon circling overhead with desperate beats of her wings.

“Kendi?” Sejal said.

“Sejal!” Katsu’s voice cut through the wailing and Sejal could now see her inside the dark place. “Sejal, I need you!”

The falcon cried again, wordless and pleading and Sejal’s earlier resentment toward Kendi vanished. Kendi was in danger. Kendi needed him. But so did the universe itself. Sejal stood at the boundary of darkness.

“Sejal!” Katsu shouted desperately.

The falcon cried, begging.

Tears streaming down his face, Sejal plunged into the dark place.