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I look from Sam to the computer. The cursor still blinks rhythmically as the file downloads. The screen shows the download is thirty-three per cent complete.

I shrug. “I’ll stay behind. Come get me tomorrow.” I don’t look at Sam, I just keep watching the computer. The file I am waiting for is a map of the area, detailed, showing the geography of the vast region. The download via satellite is slow.

Thirty-four per cent.

Thirty-five per cent.

“Alex, you’ll freeze out here—”

“I’ll be fine, Sam, really. You go. I’ll stay and do this.”

Sam is silent.

I sigh and turn around, expecting him to still be standing over me, ready to argue, but he’s gone.

“Sam?”

I get up from the chair to follow him. “Sam?” I call out again. “Sam!”

Outside the communications room, I walk down a hall that wraps around in a gentle curve. I find Sam standing by the outside doors with his back to me. He’s motionless, facing the doors like he’s waiting for something.

“Sam?” I approach him. “Are … are you OK?”

There’s no answer.

“Sam?”

He swings around, and before I can say anything more, he hits the side of my head with the shovel.

I wake up with a throbbing headache. It feels like my whole face is swollen and on fire. I wince and that makes the pain in my head even worse. I realize everything is moving, ever so slightly, back and forth. And I realize something else—something’s not right about what I can see …

The world is upside down
.

I’m looking at the computer terminal but it’s the wrong way up.

I can feel my ankles are tied together. I can see my wrists are too, dangling uselessly out in front of me. Looking down—
up
—at my feet, I see the rope around my ankles is lashed over a big hook in the ceiling.

I’m hanging from my feet upside down, trussed up like a carcass in a cool room.

Sam comes in.

“Sam!” I say. “What a relief! Help me down from here.”

Sam stops next to an old wooden chair. I struggle to recall what happened.

I was working at the computer, downloading something … Sam came in and said we had to go and then … then what?

My head throbs as Sam begins to drag the chair across the hard concrete floor, the sharp screeching noise knifing into my skull.

The sound stops abruptly, and I wonder why Sam is now in the middle of the room and not next to me, helping me down.

Isn’t he dragging the chair over to stand on and cut me free?

He sits down, facing me.

Wha—?

I look at him. We are face to face, not far apart, only I am still upside down.

“Alex,” Sam says, “this is really simple.”

“Sam—what’s going on? Why am I tied up?”

“All you have to do is tell me the location.” Sam’s voice is slow and deliberate.

“The location?” I start to panic. “Of what?”

“Yes. The location.” Sam smiles. “Tell me
where
the Gear is. Tell me
that
and we dig our way out of here, together. OK? It really is that simple. Tell me where your Gear is, and we’re out of here.”

“I—I don’t know … wait,
my
Gear?”

“Tell me where it is.”

“But I don’t—”

“Alex, this is important. Don’t waste any more time.”

What’s happening?

“Sam—help me down. This isn’t funny, man!”

Sam shakes his head slowly and looks disappointed.

“Sam? What the—? What’s going
on?
”

“You tell me,” he says.

“Get me down from here,” I say through clenched teeth.

“Why would I help you?” Sam replies calmly. “You’re not helping me.”

“You have to … wait—
what did you say?”

“I need answers, Alex. Tell me where the Gear is.”

“I don’t
know!
”

“Of course you do. You found it. Tell me.”

“I—I didn’t! I’ve never found a Gear!” I struggle against the binds, swaying under the hook that has me hung from the ceiling. “Stop fooling around, Sam! Get me down from here right now, or so help me, when I do get down …” The blood is pounding in my ears, my head feels heavy, my skin flushed and hot from hanging upside down.

“When you tell me where—” Sam says evenly.

“I DON’T KNOW!” I scream. “Why are you doing this?! You’re supposed to be my
friend!
”

“No,” Sam says in a quiet voice, leaning forward. “You’re supposed to be
my
friend. It’s
you
who’s been at the Enterprise all this time, while I was out doing all the hard work. You who has been sailing around in luxury, doing
nothing
, while I’ve been risking my life. It’s
you
who sided with Hans to get the Gear—for him. You’re a traitor, Alex. You’re working with the enemy. So you can be there at the end? So whatever is beyond the Dream Gate belongs to you, is that it?”

“You’re wrong!
Get me down!
”

“Have you been with Hans all this time, down here in Antarctica?”

“Yeah, but …”

“But
what
? Wait, let me guess—you were just down here sightseeing?” Sam paces around the room. “Look, Alex, I know you found it. You found the Gear, and you hoped the rest of us would be killed coming to help you, so that you could be there, on your own, at the Gate.”

“What? Sam, you’re acting crazy. What’s with you, man? You know I’d never—”

Sam stops pacing and turns sharply on his heel to face me, eyes fierce. “Tell me where it is, and this can end, OK?”

A muffled explosion sounds from outside, in the distance. Dust drifts down from the ceiling.

“That’d be your friend, Hans,” Sam says. “Tick-tock, Alex, we don’t have much time.”

“No—he’s not my—I was only with Hans to get this done. To find out what he knows, to help us win.”

Sam is silent. I struggle against my wrist binds, the movement rocking me from side to side as I hang there, like a pendulum in motion.

“
You’re
the enemy, Alex, when you act like this,” Sam says. “Think back. Think back to when you came to Antarctica, wandering across the ice and you found a way into the complex and you found the Gear.”

“I, I was …” I concentrate.

Faded memories start to swim around my aching head.

I did find it
.

“Fire,” I whisper, “so much fire. But deep, under a mountain. It’s so hot …”

“Good,” he says, taking a step toward me. “Tell me where you found it. Start there, everything that happened, right up until you got it.”

Something’s not right. Why’s he doing this?

How did I end up here? The shovel! It was HIM!

“I—I can’t tell you, Sam,” I force myself to say. My eyes widen as the dread fills me, overwhelming me. “All I know is … we don’t make it, Sam.”

At the end, there’s only—

Darkness
.

SAM

“Alex!” Sam sat up in bed, breathless.

The room around him was dark. He felt startled and disoriented.

Where am I?

He got out of bed and looked around.

A hotel room? But how … how did I get here?

Sam’s head throbbed as he went to the window and looked out.

I’m in a hotel in the middle of a city. But which city?

He switched on the light on the bedside table. A small notepad and pen were placed neatly by the lamp, both imprinted with the hotel’s name and location.

I’m in Melbourne. I’m still in Australia
.

Eva!

He ran to his hotel door and turned the handle to pull it open, but it was locked. He patted the pockets of his Stealth Suit hoping to feel a room key or swipe card.

Empty
.

Sam went to the phone and picked up the receiver. There was no dial tone. He lifted up the phone base and saw the cord had been cut.

How’d we get here? We were in the desert, in central Australia. I was going to go back to Uluru, to find the dream chamber hidden beneath it. Eva and I needed to separate—but then what?

He shut his eyes, trying to drown the memories of his recent dream to recall the events before. Then it all came flooding back to him.

The helicopter landed. Henk was there, Jabari was with him
.

We were ambushed
.

Stella!

Sam looked back at the locked door, all the pieces falling into place now.

We’re captive again
.

Sam padded quietly over to the door, putting his eye close to the peephole. Three rogue Agents in grey suits stood in the hallway, standing guard.

Great
.

Where’s Eva? And Jabari and Henk? Are they being held here too?

Sam paced around. He looked out the window. He was at least twenty storeys above the city, the glass of the window sealed tight. He searched the room, opening drawers and inspecting the furniture, looking for anything that he could use as a weapon.

When they come in, I’ll pretend I’m still asleep … taking on three Agents on my own won’t be easy, though
.

In the bathroom there were small bottles of shampoo and conditioner, a tiny bar of soap, two towels.

Not much use
.

He opened the wardrobe. It was empty other than three wooden coat hangers hanging from the rail. He took one, holding it out and practising a swing with it.

Not quite a baseball bat, but it’s better than nothing
.

In the quiet of the night, Sam could hear the muffled sounds of movement in the corridor, directly outside his door. He quickly put the pillows under the bedcover so that it looked as though he was still in bed, sleeping. He tiptoed to the bathroom, waiting in the darkness.

Sam’s heart pounded as he heard the door bleep once with the sound of an electronic key card.

A figure rushed by the bathroom doorway.

Sam jumped out, the coat hanger raised over his head like a club.

“Sam!” Eva said.

Shocked, he turned around. Eva stood in the hallway. The three rogue Agents lay unconscious at her feet.

“You did that?” Sam said to her.

“I did … with a
little
help,” she said, pointing to Jabari who stood behind Sam, smiling.

“Awesome!” Sam said.

That guy is like some kind of super ninja. How does he do it?

Jabari looked at the wooden coat hanger in Sam’s hands. “You were going to club me with that?” he asked.

“Only if you were an Agent, or Stella,” Sam grinned. “But where’s Henk? We can’t leave without him.”

Eva’s smile faded.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” Jabari said. “He’s not here. She had no use for your friend. I believe she got rid of him.”

“He’s
dead?
No!” Sam gasped. “That’s not … I … it’s my fault he was ever involved.”

“His courage will not be forgotten. But for now, come,” Jabari said, leading them out into the hall. “Stella will be close by. It is time to leave.”

Sam’s watch read 3:21 a.m. They were now across town at a small, beige hotel near the airport.

“I’ve gotta call Lora, about the next Dreamer,” Sam said, almost to himself. He picked up the phone on the desk and was about to press the buttons, but Jabari caught his hand to stop him.

“If you call the Academy from that phone,” he said, “there’s a very good chance someone from Stella’s team will trace the call. They will know by now that we have escaped, but let’s not give them any clues to find us. I will try to send a message via this,” he said holding up a tablet screen, “it’s better encrypted and will buy us some time, at the very least.”

Eva came over and sat on the edge of the bed next to Sam, yawning away the tiredness. “You’ve had your dream? Why didn’t you say something earlier?” she asked.

“Um, it’s a bit complicated this time,” Sam said. “This Dreamer doesn’t really … trust me right now. There was fire, but not from Solaris—it was coming from inside some big cave. A lot of fire …” Sam trailed off.

Eva looked confused. “Well, do you know where the next Dreamer is?” she asked. “Or where the cave might be?”

Sam looked up at her, suddenly more alert. “Antarctica. The next Dreamer is there.”