by James Phelan
The big grey machine was all lit up now, lights and dials flashing and twirling.
Now what?
The bomb was up on the surface, it would take out the airport and most of the surrounding area. Solaris tried to stop the countdown … to save me. The countdown skipped ahead.
The last thing I saw was the timer. It read six minutes.
Then … then there was a flash and that was it.
The countdown stopped with one second to go …
‘Come with me!’ Solaris said, and we ran through a dark corridor, the red warning lights were flashing, there was a line of hatch-like doors. Solaris tapped away at a control panel, entering latitude and longitude.
‘FOUR MINUTES TO SELF DESTRUCT …’ echoed through the alarm system.
‘Until next time!’ Solaris had said, pushing me into the capsule.
‘Where are you sending me?’ I’d asked.
‘Where you need to go.’
‘Why?’
Solaris had paused. ‘We’re two of a kind, Sam. One cannot live without the other,’ he told me.
‘THREE MINUTES TO SELF DESTRUCT …’
Solaris closed the door. I sat back. It was like a capsule. I strapped in, pulling the harness belts over my shoulders.
In the middle of the floor was a digital screen with the countdown.
2:58
2:57
2:56
Next to the screen was a flashing box that took up most of the space.
TOUCH TO LAUNCH
I touched my foot on the square—
TOUCH TO CONFIRM LAUNCH
I tapped again—
There was an immediate burst of thrust that pushed me down into the seat as the escape pod shot up, the g-forces so great that I blacked out within a second.
And now I’m here, in this room.
Wherever here is … trapped.
That’s enough!
Sam ripped the skull cap off and ran at the door to bang on it.
‘Somebody!’ he called. ‘Help!’
He called out like that again and again, until his voice gave out. He went back to the bed, his head aching, his mind tired. He sat on the edge of the bed, clutching at his head as a sharp pain seemed to cut into it like a splitting headache.
Sam took in a slow, deep breath as the reality came flooding back to him again.
I’m in the lab at Tunguska, Russia. Hans tricked us. I’m captive.
‘Arianna!’ he called out. ‘Somebody!’
The room was solid concrete—the floor, the ceiling and the walls.
No-one will hear me in here, no matter how loud I scream.
His breathing quickened and he started to panic. He touched the back of his head again.
Did they really implant a chip to steal my dreams?
He couldn’t feel a cut or scar.
I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore.
Then he heard something. A muffled noise, that he felt more than heard.
An explosion?
The room shook, bits of dust falling from the ceiling. He rushed back to the door. All he could see through the mesh in the door was a deserted corridor. Another explosion rocked the room but this time a wall of fire swept by the window and made him stumble back.
Solaris?
The sprinklers embedded in the roof sprang to life, cascading water that trickled into Sam’s eyes, blinding him.
‘Help! Somebody, help!’ he screamed, certain that his voice would not be heard but there was little else he could do. As he stood there the door grew hot to the touch from the fire outside, the sprinklers out there seeming to do little against the raging inferno.
Sam banged helplessly against the locked door. ‘Get me out of here!’
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Published by Scholastic Australia in 2014.
Text copyright © James Phelan, 2014.
Illustrations & design copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2014.
Illustrations by Chad Mitchell. Design by Nicole Stofberg.
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eISBN: 978-1-925-06330-1
