Chapter One - Dreams

Teaching Natural Sciences has its rewards. The notice that was given to my morning class of 18 students indicated that, because of their exemplary scores, they were being given the opportunity to go on a Virtual Interactive Excursion Tour. The tour is said to be the most immersive experience available today.

Chez comments, "No problem, I can have this solved before the Master here gets another gray hair!"

Looking directly at Chez, "The condition of my hair notwithstanding," looking up to the rest of the class, "keep in mind that I would not put you into a situation that you couldn't get out of. Besides, you already have the best tool for the job - your brain. Let logic show you what you need to do to escape this trap." Alna takes this in but looks as though she still seems to think the task impossible.

"All right class, break up into groups of 3 and see if you can work through it out before the class ends. As you know, we have been given permission to go on a virtual excursion while this wing of the building is rebuilt next July. The first group to escape the trap will receive the chance to choose one of three possible locations for that excursion. Everyone grab a pair of goggles and head into the holo arena. I'll be along in a moment." Although I've been getting headaches on and off for the last few days, today's headache seems unusually persistent. 2 pain pills and I should be able to last through the class.

"Everyone here? Good. Goggles on and enter a holo room please." I remember when this arena used to be a gymnasium. Now, although it still has the original ceiling height, the floor space is divided into ten rooms with the crystalline walls needed for holographic projection. The floors of each room are actually gimbals that add to the illusion generated by the walls. Directly in the center of the arena is a raised platform that allows the holo operator (me in this case) to monitor each of the spaces.

"Now that everyone is where they should be, it’s time to get started. Keep in mind that what you will see and experience will seem very real. You can exit the holo room at any time if the experience proves to be too intense. Ok, safety moment complete, let's begin with a brief description. What you will experience is the same problem my school teacher gave me when I was 15." Although, it has been updated a bit since that was 34 years ago. True Holography was just invented about 12 years ago and I couldn't resist putting the old puzzle into this new technology. "The record for escaping the trap unscathed is 22 minutes, 37 seconds. Of course, I am expecting Chez to have this solved in, what, 10 minutes?" Chez just smiles. Well, let's see how far confidence will take him.

"Here we go!" As I start the program running, I can see what the kids are seeing on the monitors in front of me. Most are reaching for their goggles and trying to maintain their footing.

"Hey! Turn on the lights!" Alna exclaims nervously. "What's with the floor?” Chez yells out.

"Stay calm, everyone. Your eyes will adjust to the darkness and the floor will now stay at its current inclination for the rest of the session. You should start seeing... 'Stuff' shortly" I say this with a small chuckle knowing what's coming. "Remember to call out what you see. This is a team exercise. Make sure to point out what you see to those around you. The first light you should see is the soft glow of the door frame behind you. I'll keep the door frame lit up a moment longer so you know it’s still there but remember - the clock starts ticking when all the elements of the trap are in place"

Darna calls out, "Hey everyone, look up there! It looks like light is coming out of that tunnel up on the wall!"

"Good catch, Darna! Alright, that's the way out of the trap. So... how you gonna get there?"

"But Master Ijun, that's not fair!”  exclaims Alna. "There is no way we could get out of this without climbing gear of some sort!"

"Keep in mind what I told you earlier. This trap is built to be solved. You can find a way"

Just as I say this, the rest of the trap starts to become apparent.

"Water? What... are we supposed to swim out of this?" Looking at the monitors, I see that the water has started flowing out of the small pipes on the door wall to the lower portion of the floor on the opposite side of the room.

"Trust me, if this was a real trap, you would drown if you waited for the water to get high enough to get out."

Kari points to the ceiling "Look there! Is that a platform?" What she is pointing at is a two foot wide platform that starts four foot from the center of the wall above the pooling water and arcs around to three foot short of the exit at the height of the exit. It looks like an easy jump from the platform to the exit hole.

"Great! Now how are we supposed to get to that?"

Wow, this is the worst headache yet... those pain pills should be kicking in any moment now...

A little dizzy now too. What the??

"Never mind that! Is that lava coming out of those pipes??" Ramin asks nervously. As he says this, I look to the screens and see that the lava has, indeed, started flowing out into the water. This lasts for 1 minute then stops for a minute and then starts back up again and will continue this cycle for the next 20 minutes.

"Ok everyone, all of the elements of the trap are in place. Discuss among your group the possibilities and exit the holo room and return to the classroom once you think you have it solved. Write out your solution and have it to me by the end of class. I'll be heading back to the classroom now. This holo sim will end automatically in... 27 minutes." I need to sit down. This headache is killing me.

As I am re-entering my classroom, a very powerful wave of intense dizziness overwhelms me and I begin to fall to the floor. Unfortunately, I must have hit my head on the lectern on my way down because I wake up in the Nurses room with a huge bruise on my head and a general feeling of disconnectedness and a raging headache. My vision seems to be all messed up also. It's like double vision except the multiple images are on top of each other instead of next to each other. Something is definitely not right.

Feeling exhausted by my recent ordeal, my first challenge looks like it's going to be struggling to sit up without immediately falling back down from dizziness and... multi-vision. This is finally accomplished sometime later only to hear the end of day bell go off. That's the first thing I notice. The second thing is that I can't hear any noise nearby or in the halls as a result of the bell. Come to think of it, where is the one who is supposed to be in this office watching me?? "Jada? Is anyone out there?"… No answer.… after what feels like an hour of trying to get my head to agree that standing is a viable option; I make my way out of the little room I am in to the nurses’ station out front.

"Jada?" this is odd... very odd. Why is no-one at the desk? What's going on here? Nothing is drastically out of place. It looked like a normal reception area with two desks and a counter to receive patients. However, there are things that are subtly wrong. There's paperwork left on the counter - Jada would never allow that, no matter what the emergency. There's also a pile of folders right in the middle of the walkway outside of Jada’s' office. It looks like someone dropped them there while trying to open the door and left them where they fell. The glass door to Jada's office is closed, so I can see no one is in there.

Although the headache seems to be backing off a little, the dizziness remains causing me to move about very cautiously. Great.... The multi vision is returning. I sit down in the waiting area out front to rest my eyes and try to sort things out. Fifteen or so minutes later, nearly falling asleep in the relative silence, I can faintly hear crying in the hallway outside of the nurses’ suite. Realizing that this is the first person I have heard since I woke up, I carefully get up to go check it out. Ah, good. The dizziness is less than it was before.

The door from the nurses’ office opens into the middle of the hallway that joins the main entrance to the school. I have never seen this hallway empty. Even after hours there is usually someone trying to get somewhere. However, the only sign of life is the sound of frightened crying. In addition to the emptiness, it seems that the wrongness of the nurses’ office has spilled into the hallway. Items appear to have been dropped or abandoned quickly - lockers hanging open, book bags in random places on the floor, even the occasional girls’ purse and cell phone. Down the hall, sitting on the floor close to where the hallway meets the main entrance, is Alna from this mornings class. Walking toward her very carefully, "Alna? Are you all right?" She has apparently been crying for some time. However, upon hearing my voice, she jumps up - apparently scared and relieved, "Ijun! You're alive!" She runs into my arms, glad to have someone to be with - and almost knocks me down in the process.

"It's OK now. Shhh. It's OK." Holding her for a few minutes, she calms down enough to start talking again.

"They're all gone! I was on my way back to the classroom when they all just disappeared! What are we going to do? I tried calling my mom, but no one answered – dad too!"

"What do you mean, 'they all disappeared'? Where'd they go? Is anyone else around?"

"They vanished - just popped out of existence! The few that didn't left the building. They went outside. 'Said they were going home. I'm so scared."

Home. Oh no, I was supposed to be home for lunch today. I better call Danna and let her know what's going on. "Alright, let's see if we can't get a better idea of what's going on. I need to make some phone calls and then let's go find the others. I need you to stay with me right now, OK Alna? I'll take you home after I check to see what's going on." She nods as we enter the empty principals office. Seeing a phone, I start making phone calls. First call is to Danna. No answer at work, home or any of her relatives houses. What was she supposed to be doing today? Vanessa! She was heading over there after our lunch. I should have called her first. Logan, Vanessa Eldriness's son, answers the phone.

'H-hello?"

"Hello Logan. It's me, Ijun. Is Danna visiting your mom?" Logan lives with his mother next door while he finishes his doctorate in Psychology. His mom, Vanessa Eldriness, is the widow of a retired college professor. The two of them, Vanessa and Danna, immediately hit it off when we moved into the neighborhood. So much so that Vanessa became like a beloved Aunt to Danna. The two spend most of their free time together.

"They were here. They were sitting out back having lunch in the garden while I was in the house studying for my psych exam, but they're not there anymore. They didn't go over to your house?"

Stay calm... "Not that I know of. Logan. Can you do me a favor and stay home until I get there? There is something really weird going on here that I want to check out and then I'll be over."

"No problem. My exam is tomorrow and I have a lot of studying to do. I wasn't planning on going anywhere today." Hesitantly, he asks, "You sound kinda tense. Everything's OK, Isn't it?" 

"I'm not sure yet. Apparently, some people just vanished at school today and I want to find out more about it. Turn on the radio and let me know if you hear anything about this by the time I get there."

"Will do." 

"See you soon."

Now what? Alna looks more scared by the moment. "All right, we need to go see what's going on." For the first time since waking up, I take a moment to observe my surroundings. Other than the sound of Alna's ragged breathing, the only real noise is the old air conditioning system trying to keep up with the summer heat. With Alna following closely, we make our way down the hallway towards the main entrance. The nearer we get to the entrance, the more I expect to hear the sounds of the street or see some sort of activity. Unfortunately, the only sound that greets them is silence.

However, upon exiting the building and looking around, they notice a group of four standing outside at the bus stop. One of the four is Chez. Another student from his morning class. The other three are various ages - one boy around ten, another girl looks 17 and the other young woman might be the substitute teacher for the Health & Exercise class. While taking this all in, the door behind me closes with a soft "clunk", causing Chez to notice us come out of the building. Walking towards the group, I quickly notice that the "wrongness" is not limited to the inside of the school building. There is general chaos everywhere I look.

Although the school is pretty far from the main port city of Rogel, pillars of smoke can be plainly seen where none are meant to be. Much closer, vehicles have run into other vehicles and are still running - the drivers and passengers nowhere in sight. A newspaper and briefcase appear to have been dropped in the parking lot along with various other carried items.

As I near the bus stop, the multi-vision,dizziness and headaches start again. I hurry to the bench and sit down just in time to recognize that one pat of the multi-vision is significantly different then what I know to be true - and then I black out.

Chapter 2 - The Gathering