4, p.8
4, page 8
‘How do we shut it down?’ Alex said.
‘I don’t know!’ Ahmed gasped, clearly out of his depth.
Alex put a rag over his face against the fumes and raced around the engine, looking for any sign that there may be some kind of switch to press.
A key!
He reached for it—
‘No!’ the engineer yelled from the doorway.
Alex looked at him. He looked like he’d stepped out of a coal mine, covered head to toe in dark black soot. He raced over to Alex and instead of killing the engine he pulled a lever to turn it down.
‘If it shuts down completely,’ the crewman said, taking heaving breaths, ‘we won’t get it started again.’
‘What’s happening up there?’ Alex asked him.
The engineer was already using a wrench to tighten bolts on the engine. ‘They got one aircraft, shot it right from the sky,’ he replied. ‘But the other one is still up there.’
‘Why isn’t it attacking again?’
‘Who knows,’ the guy said, working hard to get the engine running properly.
At least the smoke has stopped pouring out.
‘And the Ra?’ Dr Kader said.
‘She’s banged up,’ the engineer said. ‘One more direct hit and we’ll be swimming to shore.’
Alex swallowed hard. ‘Should we stay down here?’ he asked.
The engineer remained silent as he worked.
‘I will stay until Hans says otherwise,’ Dr Kader said, sitting down at the table again.
Alex crouched down to the engineer. ‘Can I do something to help you?’
The guy looked up and wiped grime and sweat from his face. ‘OK, sure, hand me that toolbox over there,’ he said, pointing.
Alex rushed over, happy for something productive to do, the deck underfoot unstable as the Ra was being churned in the ocean, the waves rocking it from side-to-side.
‘This one?’ Alex asked, holding a small red toolbox he grabbed from a shelf.
The guy nodded.
Alex headed back.
And never made it.
KLAP-BOOM!
The missile struck as the Ra’s side rocked above the water, hitting the ship dead-on. The sound was like nothing Alex had ever heard.
The force was enough to knock him off his feet and slam him hard against the deck, his head bouncing off something metal, the darkness of unconsciousness washing over him.
27
SAM
The camp fire was small and hidden behind a little rock wall that they had made, the elephant apparently having a similar disposition towards fire as Sam. Poh placed an earthenware bowl inside the fire, settling it onto half of the coals. He loaded it with rice and a vegetable curry that he’d made from ingredients he took from a bamboo basket.
Sam settled in, sitting between Poh and Tobias, the elephant’s eyes gleaming in the dark background as it ate branches collected from the forest bordering the temple complex.
‘There’s said to be less than four hundred left in the wild,’ Poh said, sitting there close to the fire and dishing out bowls of food.
‘Four hundred what?’ Sam asked.
Poh pointed to the elephant. ‘And even less than that in captivity.’
‘I thought a country like Cambodia would have more than that?’ Sam said. By the orange glow of the fire and the light of the full moon he could see its mighty form, chomping at the branches of lush foliage.
‘They’re hunted for their ivory,’ Poh said, sitting next to Sam, ‘and sometimes their meat is taken too, but that is perhaps seen as a bonus for the poachers. The presence of hunters has made the remaining elephants extremely wary of humans,’ he explained. ‘So they have learned to be constantly on the move. We have plenty of natural habitat for the elephant population to recover, but it is hard without political will and the money to fund such protection.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Sam said, ‘I wish we could do something to help. Maybe after …’
‘I hope so. I was born in Phnom Penh but my grandparents were from this district. It was their wish, a long time ago, to care for the elephants,’ Poh said. ‘So my parents told me.’
‘Are your grandparents still around?’ Tobias asked.
Poh shook his head. ‘They were killed.’
‘Who killed them?’ Sam said quietly.
‘The thugs who once tried to rule my country many years ago,’ Poh said. ‘They took over by force and by the time we had stopped them, our country had suffered a great deal.’
Sam knew who Poh was talking about. He remembered from history class—a group who had controlled the country nearly forty years before and killed many thousands of innocent civilians. It made him grit his teeth, thinking how awful that was, and how terrible it would be if such a thing were to happen again.
‘How did you get this elephant here?’ Tobias asked, gently changing the subject.
‘Dara was an orphan,’ Poh said. ‘Like many of the others I care for, her parents were killed. We take in the elephants, they grow up, we release them back to the wild so that they breed and live free. Some of them are killed, we take in their orphans. It’s a circle, you see? The past couple of months have been the worst—killings all over the forests. Something has changed in the air, people are going crazy. More than ever.’
Tobias gave Sam a long, meaningful look.
The world’s in chaos because of the prophecy, because of the race to the Dream Gate.
‘I took in three new orphans that are back at the nursery,’ Poh continued. ‘Usually it’s only two or three per year. The times seem to … they are getting bad, very bad.’
‘We’re working on that,’ Sam said, a twist of urgency in his stomach.
‘We’re trying to fix things,’ Tobias added. ‘In some ways, what you’re going to help us with will help them in the long run. Do you know why we’re here?’
‘Yes, I dreamed about it. I know,’ Poh said quietly.
‘You know?’ Tobias asked again.
‘I know I have to go with you,’ Poh said. He patted his elephant. ‘And I know that soon it will be revealed to me where it is that we have to go.’
28
EVA
Wow, so this is what the construct is like. Sort of just like any other dream. Huh.
The team had awoken in Spain—all the teams being required to begin in a European country, all similarly distant from wherever the prize was hidden. Eva recognised the spires of Barcelona immediately and as they ran down the city streets, they quickly learned to recognise doors that looked just that bit different from any other.
‘Let’s go through a white one together and get somewhere different,’ Xavier said. ‘We need to shake things up to start our search.’
‘OK,’ Zara agreed. ‘How about Stonehenge?’
‘Good choice,’ Eva said. They were all going to work together and not argue about destinations. And going to places heavily connected to ancient cultures and Dreaming history seemed like a good start.
They walked up to a door on a small side street. ‘This should be one,’ Eva said. ‘Ready?’
Zara and Xavier nodded.
‘On three,’ Eva said. ‘One, two, three.’
They were standing in the freezing wind and rain in southern England, right among the stones themselves, panting for breath from their run up the hill.
‘Hey!’ A security guard spotted them almost instantly.
‘Really? Imena set up security here?’ Xavier exclaimed. They started running, almost laughing with the exhilaration as they began to lift off the ground.
‘We’re flying!’ Eva cried. ‘This is so amazing!’
‘More like bounding,’ Zara exclaimed. ‘But I love it!’
They were soon out of range of any security personnel and stopped to take stock.
‘OK, as agreed, we split up so you guys can chase down your Gears,’ Eva said. ‘You both stick together for now as its likely the Gears are in the same place. Reach out to the Gears with your subconscious Dreamer mind and follow your gut.’
‘And the meeting point?’ Xavier said.
‘The Eiffel Tower,’ Eva said, ‘two hours from now, we’ll see what our progress is then.’
‘Oui, it is agreed,’ Zara said, taking Xavier’s hand to race off down the hillside, looking for a white door nearby.
OK, now I need to find that mirror.
Mirror, mirror on the … that’s not going to help.
Hmm.
Eva sat down on the wet grass and closed her eyes.
Focus. There are clues within the prize and within the construct.
The image of the mirror swam before her eyes. She slowed down her breathing and thought of nothing else but the mirror. Gradually she began to remember the exact design on the back of it. There was some kind of pattern.
Aztec?
South America, then.
Eva bounded across the fields until she found a farmhouse where she knew there would be a white door. Walking up to a large barn, she grasped the door handle, and firmly planted her destination in her mind as she opened the door and walked through.
In a heartbeat she was in the Valley of Mexico, standing in radiant sunshine on top of the plateau. But in the wink of an eye, a shadow passed over the sun.
That wasn’t a cloud? But then what was it—a construct blip?
As she looked around, the sun blinked out again and again. Startled, she gazed up and saw black streaks swirling across the sky, growing larger every minute—
And heading straight for her.
29
SAM
Sam did not sleep but Poh slumbered on next to him.
Tobias too, for a while. He woke when Sam stoked the fire and added another large log.
‘Sorry to wake you,’ Sam said, staring at the fire, looking at the hot coals that burned brightly, the fresh oxygen invigorating them. The log crackled and spat.
‘That’s fine,’ Tobias replied. ‘I was having a bad dream anyway.’
‘Is something bad going to happen now?’ Sam’s face creased in a frown.
‘I’m not sure,’ Tobias said, sitting up and opening a bottle of water. ‘But I doubt very much it was a true dream—I rarely have them now, just hints and memories.’
‘Why?’
‘Why don’t I true dream? Because I’m not following my path, not following where my own dreams take me,’ he said. ‘Since this started, I’ve been in your world. I’m steering my dreams to follow you, following your destiny. That’s where I belong right now—right here, with you.’
‘You’re sure about that?’ Sam asked.
Tobias nodded. ‘I was assigned to be your teacher, to watch over you, and I’ve stuck with that since.’
They sat in silence a while, the brilliant starry sky above, the crackling fire below.
A startling gunshot echoed through the forest to the east, over the moat. Another salvo snapped off. Three shots, closer than before.
‘Bandits,’ Poh said, sitting up, instantly alert from his slumber. ‘We should be careful.’
‘Did you . .?’ Sam said.
‘Dream?’ Poh asked.
Sam nodded. Waited.
Poh broke into a toothy grin. ‘Yes! We must find … wait.’ He looked puzzled, trying to recall something. ‘Snakes! We have to find snakes!’
By the light of the full moon, the inscription carved into the square slab of paving stone was revealed.
They were standing about fifty metres north from where they’d made camp, where Poh had led them to an area of thick undergrowth. They cleared roots and soil and moss away by hand to reveal the carved paving stone, set among a cluster of similar stones.
‘What does it mean?’ Sam asked.
‘It means that just like meeting you here,’ Poh said, ‘my dreams are continuing to come true. It is … amazing.’
‘What’s next?’ Sam asked.
Poh scratched his head and looked about. Crouching down, he knocked on the paving stone, his ear close to it. He repeated the process, tapping and listening to the paving stones around the central one.
‘I was stupid,’ Tobias said under his breath. ‘We need a dream reading machine—we came here ill-prepared, I should have brought one. I can call in, have one flown in by tomorrow.’
More gunfire filled the air, a lethal staccato across the sky. It seemed closer here and Sam felt the urge to gather the three of them and the elephant and run to the west.
We could come back tomorrow, in the daylight, when we have the additional support of the Guardians.
‘I remember now!’ Poh said. ‘We go down—under the stone.’
‘Down?’ Tobias asked.
‘Under the stone,’ Poh repeated. He pulled a knife from his belt and prised it into an edge. Nothing.
Centuries of weather and neglect had locked the stone in place. He worked the blade along the seam of the paver, cleaning it out, digging into the space between the join that was no thicker than the blade, working like this on each of the four edges so that it was eventually freed. He looked up to the others as he knocked on the paver again, then on those adjacent to it.
‘It’s hollow!’ Sam said, now hearing the difference. ‘There’s a cavity underneath.’
With more cleaning and prying, and with the effort of the three of them working together, the stone lifted up like a trapdoor. It was a lid. It revealed a small, square, stone-lined space below it. A slight breeze came up from a tunnel just big enough to wriggle through in a tight squeeze.
Sam stuck his head down into the space and cast his flashlight around. It was a smooth stone-lined drain, a small trickle of water at the bottom, running north. He’d fit in there, Poh too.
But definitely not Tobias.
‘The Gear we are searching for is down here,’ Poh said. ‘In my dream I saw that it was placed here for safe keeping.’
‘You watched it being hidden?’ Sam asked.
‘Yes. It was like I was watching a movie. It was more than five hundred years ago, when Cambodia was in a state of change. I remember my father telling me stories about adventurers from Spain and Portugal who came to our country and helped overthrow the foreign powers that once controlled it. They freed us from the chaos.’
‘Do you remember who they were?’ Sam asked.
‘I was not sure,’ Poh said, ‘until I saw this.’ He smiled as he pointed at the carving on the paving stone. ‘But now I know for certain. Their names were Ruiz and Veloso.’
‘The initials on the stone,’ Sam said, running his fingers over the engraving. ‘R and V. They put it here.’
‘For safekeeping against the chaos,’ Tobias said, ‘and for us to find. Anything else?’
‘Yes, there’s a big elephant down there,’ Poh said, as though that would be the most ordinary thing.
‘Elephant?’ Sam asked, poking his head down the hole again. ‘I don’t think an elephant could fit down here, Poh.’
Poh simply shrugged and smiled.
Another volley of gunfire emanated from the forest. Poh’s elephant trumpeted loudly, stamping its feet. Poh looked back towards their camp fire.
‘She’s getting angry at the noise—she thinks it’s poachers,’ he said. ‘I want to check on her before we go on our adventure. OK?’
Sam and Tobias nodded, walking back with Poh to their camp.
‘So who made this Gear we are looking for?’ Poh asked as he checked over his elephant.
‘Some say Leonardo da Vinci,’ Tobias replied. ‘Some say it was made much earlier.’
‘Sixteenth century at the latest,’ Sam added as he stood and waited for Poh to finish checking Dara, her eyes shining in the dark. ‘It’s thought that these Gears were secretly adapted to form parts of devices, which were then hidden away around the globe, via explorers taking them on their travels.’
‘But—that is not true?’ Poh asked. ‘You do not sound so sure.’
More crackling gunfire rang out.
‘Maybe not,’ Tobias said, looking to Sam.
‘We think—well, Tobias and I were talking about it on the flight here—that it makes more sense if, on the death of da Vinci, the Gears to the Bakhu Machine were split up and given to thirteen prominent Dreamers, who then made sure that they were hidden away.’
‘Wow,’ Poh said. ‘And one of these Gears is somewhere near here?’
‘If that’s what your dream is telling you, yes,’ Tobias said. ‘But it’s time for you to hustle. I’ll wait up here, keep an eye out. You two go on.’
‘You’re sure?’ Sam said.
Tobias smiled. ‘Yes, Sam. This is your destiny, remember, not mine. You and Poh go, I’ll hold things down here. Good luck.’
Sam nodded, and one after the other, the pair of them walked back to the upturned slab and went head-first into the square hole, dropping down into the drain. They began wriggling their way north, following the flowing water.
30
ALEX’S DREAM
‘Eva?’ I ask. Eva looks like she is running from someone.
We are on a city street. She keeps looking back, as though checking to see if she is being followed.
‘Surprised to see me?’ Eva replies over her shoulder.
I struggle to keep up.
‘Who are you running from?’ I ask.
‘Oh, the usual,’ she grins.
‘Where are we?’
‘You don’t want to know.’
‘Ah, I do,’ I say. We round a corner, and Eva leads us into a building. It’s a restaurant at the base of a tall office block. Eva watches out the window. Soon, Stella runs by, Matrix too and a bunch of rogue Enterprise Agents. ‘What are they doing?’
‘Chasing you.’ She stares at me.
‘Me?’ I look around. ‘Where are we?’
‘In your dream.’
‘In my what?’
‘Look, Alex, I’m sorry, but I can’t stay long,’ Eva says. ‘I have a mission.’
‘But how are you in my dream?’
‘I’m in the competition—the Dreamer Doors, and then you dragged me in here,’ she says.
‘In here?’
