I scratch my head. “And they’re the Escapists? Why would Asha want to live with them?”
“She didn’t. We put her there,” Bebe says. “The story we wanted everyone to believe was that the two of you were killed. We couldn’t maintain that falsehood if she were prancing around Soma.”
That makes sense. When I was in Valerian’s black window, he told me he hadn’t seen her growing up and that she probably was in a part of Soma separated from the rest.
He was right.
I leap to my feet. “Can we go get her now?”
Bebe squeezes the last of her tube into her mouth and stands up as well. “Let’s.”
She hands the gun to Valerian and leads us out of the cafeteria building. As we walk, she tells us how the ranks of the Escapists have grown recently and warns me about what to do when we reach them, which basically boils down to avoiding mentioning anything unpleasant that could turn a dream into a nightmare.
“Why does the rest of Soma put up with them?” I ask as we get to the forest area.
“They go out of their way to avoid nightmares, so they never get Overtaken,” Bebe says. “Basically, they’re harmless, so nobody minds their existence.”
We walk onto a clearing, and I swallow my next question, too fascinated by what I see.
A large squadron of guards with guns stands around a circular moat dug up in the soil. All their guns are pointed at the very center—where a single gate stands, one that looks just like the ones at the hubs, only lonesome.
I step on a dry branch, and they turn, pointing the guns at me.
“At ease,” Bebe says.
“Yes, ma’am,” they reply in unison, then turn back and point their guns back at the gate.
“Keep up the good work,” Bebe tells them and waves for us to follow her.
As we proceed deeper into the forest, I recall her saying that the Overtaken have come from the Otherlands. Sounds like they arrive to a warm reception. Bebe explains that the guards don’t even bother shooting if only one or two Overtaken come through the gate. Since every guard is an illusionist, they work together to make the Overtaken—and their master—see something that isn’t there. Something that makes them kill each other.
Eventually, we come out to an area that appears to be a clone of the place we came from—which is now in the sky from this vantage point.
A guard is patrolling nearby.
Bebe points her hand at him, and he falls down, instantly in REM sleep.
Valerian raises an eyebrow.
“Just so they don’t ask too many questions,” Bebe explains and heads toward a small spherical structure.
When we get there, she plays with some machine, and when I ask what she’s doing, she says, “Disabling the cameras. Again, don’t feel like answering questions.”
How crappy is the security here that she can just turn off cameras willy-nilly? Unless she’s a hacker, like Felix?
Bebe leads us farther in until we stop next to a chrome door with controls similar to those for the cameras. I can feel three people in REM sleep inside the room.
Bebe points her hand at the door. There’s a thud, and I can feel a fourth person enter REM sleep.
She fiddles with the controls, and the door slides away. We step over a sleeping illusionist that Bebe has knocked out with her powers and walk inside—only to stare at my sister and her family in horror.
Asha, Kojo, and their daughter, Chloe, are hooked up to a web of machines that look like close relatives of the ones that keep Mom alive.
Except this family isn’t in a coma. They’re just sleeping.
I fight the urge to rip the tubes and cables away from them. “Is this the medical bay?”
Bebe shakes her head. “The equipment is here to feed them and make sure they’re hydrated.”
The gear hooked up to Asha begins vibrating and jostling her around.
I look at our grandmother.
“That equipment was originally used to stave off muscle degeneration when the colony’s artificial gravity wasn’t on,” she explains. “Without it, they wouldn’t be able to function upon return to the real world.”
“I hope they have this in the medical bay,” I say. “Mom could use it.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll build up her muscles there,” Bebe says confidently. “The one positive side effect of dealing with the Escapists is our competence in this area.”
I examine my sister with concern. “Do they never, ever wake up?”
Bebe gives me a confused look. “They couldn’t have exactly made a baby in the dream world, could they?”
Great. I almost walked into the-birds-and-the-bees talk with my grandmother.
I scan the gear attached to my twin. “Why use the machines then?”
“Prophylactic,” she replies. “They take a cocktail of substances to stay in the dream world for as long as they can, so muscle atrophy and nutrient deficiency can become a concern.”