Chapter 23

Donna opened her eyes. She was still on the train and Steph remained blissfully unaware. Looking out of the window, mile after mile of flat farmland drifted past, reminding her of the more familiar train journey towards Chatford from Leafy Street. As she regained her senses she remembered the words of the old man or whatever he represented, 'Upon awakening time will be critical. It is your choice whether or not to respond to this.'

Casting her mind back to her experience speeding along the open waves, Donna had the usual notion that it was more like reactivating a memory than thinking about a dream. She wished that she had remained in the dream and had been able to get to that cliff at Eastbourne on the boat on her own. If she wanted to do something to save the professor's life now, she'd have to convince Steph that she wasn't insane first. It wasn't so much a 'Holmes and Watson' investigation now as a James Bond style race against time, and she knew that Steph wouldn't play ball easily.

If they changed their route and found the potential suicide case sitting in a bar at the top of the cliffs, this would once again confirm that these were not just dreams and that the notion of a programmer could indeed be real, and getting to the truth was the sole reason she was making this trip after all. Steph would just have to go along with her.

The train appeared to be coming into another town as residential houses began to creep towards the railway line which then passed beneath a bridge into a land of industrial buildings. An announcement came over the loudspeaker, 'We are now approaching Ashford International. Ashford International is the next station stop. Change here for trains to Maidstone, Ramsgate via Canterbury, and Eastbourne via Hastings. It was as though this message had cemented the idea in Donna's mind - they were going to Eastbourne.

She reached forward and shook Steph by the knee, who responded by groaning sleepily, 'What is it, Don?'

'We are changing our course,' said Donna, still using the language of the high seas, 'We need to go to Eastbourne.'

'What? I thought we were going to Folkestone,' came the reply.

'We are. Later,' reassured Donna, 'There's something we have to do first.'

'Really?' said Steph in a strained tone, 'I was fast asleep then.'

As the train passed numerous tracks feeding into the town from different locations Donna figured out a way to pacify her friend, 'Look, you know we're doing this to check out those funny dreams I keep getting? Well, I just fell asleep and the programmer has moved the action from Folkestone to Eastbourne. If there's any truth in the dreams we could be about to save a man from suicide.'

Steph looked incredulous as Donna continued, 'We need to change trains here. I'll buy your ticket as I know money is tight for you. We just have to do this and if we solve the mystery at Eastbourne, we will have got the business part out of the way and we can concentrate on fun when we get to Folkestone tonight.'

The train passed under another bridge and slowed down as it came into a long platform, finally stopping. Donna stood up, pulling both cases down from the overhead shelf, 'Come on Steph. Time to go.'

Steph felt like she was being literally dragged off of this train, through an underground walkway and onto another train which was waiting at another platform. This wasn't her idea of fun at all – chasing about all over Southeast England because her friend was going bonkers over a few crazy dreams. Just where would the apparitions send them next? This trip wasn't going to be relaxing or fun at all. She wished she'd stayed at home.