10

by James Phelan

  There was a red-orange and yellow flaring of Sam’s hand as he passed it under the camera lens.

  Jedi brought the office lights up again.

  ‘Similar to X-ray, it will pass through solid objects up to about half a metre, like through thick walls, say.’

  ‘That’s … handy.’

  ‘Another app on here … where is it … converts over a hundred languages in and out of English in real-time.’ Jedi flipped through the pages of app screens. ‘I’ll let you find that. And last but not least, is this. Use this app as an absolute last resort because it will fry your phone,’ Jedi pushed on another app and little sharp prongs poked out the bottom of the handset. ‘A taser-type device. It’ll knock someone out cold—but it’ll kill your battery, so be wary, it’s a once-only number until you recharge the handset. For self-defence, of course.’

  ‘Of course.’ Sam reset the phone and pocketed it. ‘OK, I’d better go pack my toothbrush.’

  ‘Sam?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Good luck out there,’ Jedi said, rolling up the Stealth Suit for him.

  ‘Thanks, man,’ Sam said.

  ‘See you on the flip side,’ Jedi called out as Sam left.

  Sam couldn’t find Eva to say goodbye. He left her a note, slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed outside. The snow was being blown horizontally and Sam thought about how cold it was. Almost instantly he felt his new Stealth Suit change to become a big puffy snow suit. Nice!

  He pulled open the Suit for a moment—making one last check of the precious key that hung once more around his neck. ‘I don’t know why,’ he’d told the Professor, ‘but I just know I need it with me.’ He was so grateful the Professor had just nodded and returned the key to him. Sam smiled to himself to think of the trust the Professor now had in him.

  I hope I can show him, and everyone else, that I’m up to the job.

  He ran over to the helicopter, its rotors beginning to turn in the thin mountain air, to find the Professor already strapped into a seat in the back. Sam gave him the thumbs up. As they slowly rose into the sky, he watched the tiled roof of the Academy through the window until it faded out of sight.

  08

  ALEX

  ‘I’ll show them I’m ready,’ Alex said to himself as he ran on a treadmill in the Enterprise’s gym. ‘I’ll be more ready than anyone.’

  He ran flat out, as fast as he could, until he had to jump off in exhaustion.

  ‘Looked like you were going to run through the wall,’ a familiar voice said.

  ‘Yeah …’ Alex replied, seeing Shiva across the room. ‘Trying to get fitter. Get bigger guns. Maybe some rippling abs.’

  ‘Uh-huh, good luck with all that.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Alex said, draining his water bottle. ‘That’s some outfit you’re wearing.’

  ‘Was due for a match,’ Shiva said, dressed in white fencing gear, a helmet in one hand and a thin-bladed sword in the other. ‘But my partner has dropped out.’

  ‘Fencing, eh?’ Alex said, wiping the sweat from his face with a hand-towel. ‘Always wanted to try that.’

  ‘Why not step in?’

  ‘Step in? Like, now?’

  ‘Sure, I’ll go easy on you. Then again, with those bulging biceps, maybe you should go easy on me.’

  ‘OK.’ Alex followed Shiva over to the gym clerk who got Alex fitted out with all the gear. He took the sword and swished it around in the air.

  ‘It’s an épée,’ Shiva said as he led them into the arena. ‘The electronic tip will record the hits, and the entire body is a valid target area. And there’s no taking turns like you get with other fencing. This is just “game on”.’

  ‘Even the gloves are a target?’ Alex said, pulling his gloves on.

  ‘Even the gloves,’ Shiva said. ‘In fact, the glove of the épée hand is a good target, because it’s always close.’

  ‘How’d you get into this?’ Alex said, putting on his mask.

  ‘Because of my work in IT,’ Shiva said, taking guard. ‘Working for Matrix in his computer lab—believe me, a couple years of working for that guy, you need to do something like this.’

  ‘He can’t be that bad,’ Alex scoffed. ‘Isn’t he just your normal genius-computer-guru weirdo?’

  ‘Our supervisor,’ Shiva said, ‘is one of the smartest guys on the planet—he went from being a fifteen-year-old high-school student in Taiwan to running his own software company at twenty. The Director met him and lured him here with a huge salary and even cooler toys to play with.’

  ‘Is that why he never leaves the lab and is so secretive about what he’s doing?’

  ‘Probably,’ Shiva said, stretching out his arms and legs and getting ready. ‘Matrix wouldn’t be bothered to explain his work to me. Ready?’

  ‘I think so,’ Alex said, standing opposite.

  ‘OK, stand like this, see?’

  Alex tried to copy Shiva’s stance, bending his legs into a standing squat.

  ‘Excellent. Now, try moving forwards in an advance, like this.’

  Alex followed Shiva’s move.

  ‘And bring your back leg in front of your front leg, so you can sprint past your opponent. We can work on that next time.’

  ‘Ha! What makes you think there’ll be a next time?’ Alex said, slashing at the air with his sword.

  ‘You’re confident, that’s good,’ Shiva said. ‘Mind you don’t attack like that though, these aren’t sabres. With épée, it’s a pointed attack with the tip only. Ready?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘En-garde!’

  Before Alex knew it, Shiva lunged at him and hit him in the chest. The buzzer whined and a number one lit up on the scoreboard.

  ‘Ah, I see how we’re playing …’ Alex said, settling back to his starting position.

  ‘En-garde!’

  Another hit, this time on Alex’s bicep.

  ‘In fairness,’ Shiva said, a smile in his voice, ‘it was a big target!’

  ‘Right, I got this …’ Alex said, concentrating on his moves.

  ‘En-garde!’

  3–0, Shiva got Alex on the forearm.

  4-0, another hit on the hand this time.

  ‘OK,’ Alex said, ‘I think I’m getting the hang of it now …’

  It was 12–0 when Alex scored a hit on Shiva’s glove.

  ‘Aha!’ Alex exclaimed, bowing to his opponent. ‘I think I have this mastered.’

  Alex won the next two and they finished up 15–3, the second bout going 15–6.

  ‘A final bout?’ Shiva said. He was smiling, having hardly broken a sweat.

  ‘Maybe tomorrow?’ Alex said, his legs burning from half an hour of parrying and lunging.

  ‘Sure,’ Shiva said, slipping off his mask and tilting his head in respect. ‘I think with my training, you may prove to be a worthy opponent in no time.’

  ‘Opponent shmopponent,’ Alex said, following Shiva out of the room. ‘Give it a few lessons and I’ll be kicking your butt back to your computer chair.’

  09

  SAM

  ‘Have you been to Paris before?’ the Professor asked as their car moved through the busy streets of the city.

  A van-load of local Guardians rode close behind them.

  ‘No,’ Sam replied. ‘I visited France with my family when I was ten. We stayed on the south coast where my dad was attending a conference, but we didn’t come to Paris.’

  ‘Hmm, well, I think you’ll like it,’ the Professor replied. ‘Plenty to see, plenty to do. A real one of a kind.’

  Sam looked at the Professor’s face as he watched out the window with a glint of wonder in his eyes. He was maybe sixty or so, his wispy grey hair and eyebrows making him look like an Einstein poster Sam remembered from the back of the science lab door at school.

  I wonder if he’s spent his whole life waiting for this moment, hoping for it. And now we’re close to getting to the Dream Gate and whatever power is beyond it.

  ‘Here we a
re,’ the Professor said, interrupting Sam’s thoughts. ‘Our hotel.’

  Sam had his own room in the suite, the brawny Guardians setting up station in the adjoining room. He flicked on the television in the sitting-room and found an international news station. The Professor came in from his bedroom, now dressed smartly as if going to a formal occasion.

  ‘Fancy clothes for a fancy hotel?’ Sam said.

  The Professor smiled and said, ‘This place is owned by a member of the Council.’

  ‘And what’s the plan?’ Sam asked the Professor. ‘You look like you’re ready for your senior prom.’

  ‘Ha, well, I must go to a function, where I will meet with the Chairman of the Council,’ the Professor said, ‘to prepare for our meeting with the full Council tomorrow.’

  ‘Hey, look,’ Sam said, turning up the volume on the newscast on the television.

  A reporter was at the Berlin Zoo, showing viewers the WWII aircraft found in the underground assembly plant.

  ‘Least they’re not talking about me,’ Sam said.

  ‘And now we will show you some images from the event, as yet unreleased to the public,’ the reporter said.

  The images changed to footage from the events three days before—the explosion that Stella’s forces set off, enabling them to rappel into the underground bunker.

  ‘That was her,’ Sam said. ‘That had to have been Stella!’

  ‘Jedi’s checked the footage from security cameras in the zoo,’ the Professor said. ‘There were no images to identify them for certain.’

  ‘Yeah, well, she’s a smart operator, we know that.’

  The newsfeed switched back to the reporter.

  ‘This area of the zoo is still off-limits,’ the newscaster said. ‘As for reports from zoo patrons of hearing a gunfight, authorities are being tight-lipped, saying that they are looking into the situation. What’s certain though is that two teenagers were shot into the sky via a World War II-era ejection seat, as captured in this tourist video.’

  Sam watched as he and Xavier went rocketing up into the air.

  ‘Gotta admit, it looks pretty cool on TV …’ Sam said. He winced when he saw the fire shoot past his falling figure.

  ‘Their identities, as with all involved, are still unknown, including this mysterious masked figure in black.’

  ‘Solaris!’ Sam said, pointing at the screen. He shook his head in disbelief. It was beyond surreal to see the apparition from his nightmares on the screen.

  The footage shifted to slow-motion as Solaris bent down and took something from Sam. The resolution was too low to make it out.

  ‘That’s when he took the Gear,’ Sam said. Then Solaris paused over Sam’s unconscious body—what was he thinking, why did he leave me unharmed?

  No sooner had Sam had that thought when the answer was presented to him. A loud, piercing ‘Nooo!’ could be heard off screen and then suddenly another figure ran into view, hurtling towards Solaris.

  Solaris turned and slammed his arm into his would-be attacker as they both staggered out of the camera frame.

  When the camera panned back, Solaris was gone.

  That must have been Alex.

  Wow, he totally saved me from Solaris.

  ‘And what we see here is that there may have been a third teenager involved,’ the reporter said. ‘Again, due to the amateur nature of the footage, it’s impossible to get an ID on any of the parties involved. Police are calling for witnesses to come forward …’

  ‘That was Alex!’ Sam said, looking to the Professor, who watched on quietly.

  ‘Interpol has confirmed that a worldwide manhunt is underway for all parties concerned and that it is just a matter of time until they are apprehended.’

  The reporter signed off and then it went back to the news anchor.

  ‘Well,’ Sam said to the Professor. ‘I guess that could have been worse.’

  The Professor pointed to the screen.

  ‘This just in, an image of the unconscious teen from the Berlin Zoo incident, taken by a news photographer who was one of the first to arrive at the scene.’

  Sam swallowed hard. The photo was of a bleeding and battered face, but he knew it well—it was his face.

  10

  EVA

  Eva finished her classes for the day and sat with Gabriella and Xavier in one of the Academy rec rooms. Xavier had arrived earlier that morning and seemed to be really embracing his role in the last 13 race.

  ‘I’m going mad without my stylist,’ Gabriella said in her Italian-accented English as she looked at her reflection in a mirror. ‘And I’m not used to getting homework again!’ She pulled a face and Xavier laughed.

  Will I be like Xavier and Gabriella? I don’t feel like one of the last 13, maybe I am just like the rest of the students here, an ordinary Dreamer.

  ‘Yeah, well I’d be happier on the road with Sam again. Don’t get me wrong, this place seems really cool and everything,’ Xavier said, pacing, ‘but surely we can just come back if the Academy needs us.’

  ‘What about Dr Dar—I mean, your dad?’ Eva asked. ‘Don’t you want to be with him?’

  ‘He’s always been busy doing his own thing and I can’t see that changing much now, last 13 or not,’ Xavier said. ‘I mean, he made out it was nice to spend time together after all the craziness in Berlin, but he was pretty quick to have me dropped off here. Who knows where he is now …’

  Eva and Gabriella exchanged an awkward look.

  ‘I’m sure he’s just looking out for you,’ Eva countered.

  Xavier shrugged.

  ‘I wish I had someone looking out for me,’ Eva murmured to herself.

  ‘OK then, so what would you be doing out there, with Sam?’ Gabriella asked brightly.

  ‘What would I do?’ Xavier said, scratching his chin. ‘I’d be backing him up, taking care of bad guys.’ He winked back at Gabriella, who rolled her eyes.

  Sam might not want you there. I can’t believe he didn’t want me to go with him …

  ‘On this I agree with Xavier,’ Gabriella said, getting to her feet. ‘We should go, the three of us, and do what we can to—’

  ‘There you are,’ Lora said, hurrying into the room. She seemed slightly out of breath as though she’d run there. ‘There’s been a complication, with Sam.’

  ‘Is he OK?’ Eva asked, getting to her feet and feeling panic rise inside her.

  ‘Yes, but his activities in Berlin didn’t go unnoticed,’ Lora said. She explained the news bulletins and the images of Sam being circulated across the globe. ‘The whole world’s going to be looking for him now. He’s being portrayed as some kind of fugitive.’

  ‘What can we do?’ Eva said.

  ‘You can help Jedi turn the online tide,’ Lora said. ‘He needs the three of you to join him in the computer labs.’

  Eva didn’t need to be asked twice—she ran all the way to Jedi’s office with Xavier and Gabriella right behind her.

  ‘Like this?’ Eva asked, clicking on the image of Sam on the computer screen.

  ‘That’s it,’ Jedi said. ‘As my search brings up all the images from news services and the internet, you guys swap the pics like I showed you.’

  ‘Got it,’ Xavier replied, replacing an image on a webpage with a doctored version which no longer resembled Sam.

  ‘You think we can get all the images on the net?’ Eva asked.

  ‘We can but try,’ Jedi said. ‘It’s a fresh news story and hasn’t got much traction outside Western Europe yet.’

  ‘I wish I had this program before,’ Gabriella said, switching the images of Sam on the International Herald Tribune web page. ‘There are so many pictures of me that are just … eurgh.’ She made a fake vomiting face and Eva couldn’t help but giggle.

  ‘I find that hard to believe,’ Xavier said, a little too quickly. ‘I mean, that you could, like, take a bad photo, you know.’

  ‘Gross!’ Eva said, and Gabriella and Jedi laughed.

  ‘What?’ Xa
vier said. ‘I was being nice. What?’

  They were all still laughing as Eva switched Sam’s pic on the Washington Post site. ‘Come on guys,’ she said, ‘work faster!’

  11

  SAM

  The Professor left for his function, and Sam stood by a window, watching the Paris street below fill with life as workers left their jobs for the day. It had rained, briefly, and the cobblestones were reflecting the low afternoon sun. Through the open window the sound and fury of rush hour rose up to him.

  I’m glad I didn’t need to go along to some boring black-tie ball. I’ll leave the talking and negotiating to the Professor, thanks very much. What I can do is find Zara before the bad guys show up and ruin the party again.

  Sam continued to talk himself into racing out the door. He trusted the Professor and knew he was right to ask Sam to wait in the hotel room. But a part of him felt that he was wasting time, and giving up a chance to make his next move unnoticed.

  ‘Eva–I hope you’re OK,’ he texted into his phone. ‘Stay safe, contact me any time.’

  Sam paced the room. Flicking through the TV channels, he saw that he was still on some of the news channels and turned it off. He stood at the window again.

  I shouldn’t be here like this, waiting. It’s so busy down there, no-one will notice me. I could go out incognito …

  Sam stood before a full-length mirror. At his whim, his appearance changed to jeans and t-shirt with a loose-fitting red jacket. He changed again and in the blink of an eye he was wearing a plain dark suit like many he’d spied out the window. That’d be a good way to blend in if he had to ditch any pursuers. He changed back to the casual clothes.

  One thing he couldn’t change was his face. He remembered that photo from the news—how many Parisians might have seen that pic by now? He went to the bathroom and slicked down his hair, brushing it in a smart style with a side-part. Sam slipped on his sunglasses and scrawled a quick note about going out sightseeing before heading for the door.