Stuart found himself careering out of control toward a cliff edge he could not see but knew was there. The motorbike he was riding did not respond to any of the instructions he gave it. He asked it to slow down but it went faster, he asked it to stop but it continued on. The cliff was drawing nearer at an alarming rate. He asked the motorbike to turn left and then right but still it hurtled forward toward the deadly drop. He punched the gauges and kicked the front forks but it made no difference to the bike’s path. He gave up. He sat back and relaxed waiting for fate to take him. He started to enjoy the sensation of speed. He looked around him, at the people waving to him, his friends, his parents and Catherine all waving. Was it goodbye or hello? He looked ahead toward the cliff edge and there was Lauren. She was playing a steel drum and smiling as he sped toward her. He shouted for her to get out of the way but she just played louder. The cricket theme rang through his head drowning out the sound of the bike’s engine and the sound of his shouts, getting louder and louder. He tried to shout over it but it was too loud and Lauren could not hear him as he sped toward her. He pulled on the handlebars but they would not budge. He tried to lean over to tip the bike but it remained upright. He screamed at her to move but she played on. And then he woke and the phone tone played on. He sat up in bed and in a moment the dream was gone. He reached for his phone from the bedside cabinet and answered it. It was Catherine. She sounded shaken.
“Hi Stuart, there’s no easy way to break this to you so I’ll get straight to the point. Your brother has been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped?” he exclaimed. He was still confused from the dream and now Catherine’s words assaulted his senses. He nipped himself to check if he was still asleep. “Kidnapped?” he repeated, “by who?”
“I don’t have all the details yet. Meet me in the refectory as soon as you can. Terry is going to brief us.” Before he could comment or ask further questions she hung up. Dazed and confused he placed the phone back on to the bedside cabinet and got out of bed. They were staying in the college staff accommodation located just across a forecourt from the main building housing the refectory. Terry told them they could come and go as they pleased but advised them it would be safer if they stayed at the college with the rest of the group. They would be taken to their respective homes to collect personal items at some stage the next day if required. In the meantime he had left clothes and provisions for them in their rooms. Stuart took a shower and dressed in the clothes provided by Terry. His head buzzing with the shocking news from Catherine, he headed across the forecourt to meet with the rest. It was dark outside but he had no idea what the time was. He figured it could be anything from midnight to 5 am. He shook as the cold night air penetrated his clothing. Looking up into the night sky he tried to find the moon but all he could see were clouds. As he marched across the forecourt Catherine’s words replayed in his head, your brother has been kidnapped. Why would someone kidnap David? he thought. As far as he knew his brother wasn’t involved or even aware of what was going on at the college. He didn’t have the facts yet but kidnapping seemed pretty drastic and he felt somehow responsible. How many more people were going to get involved in this mess because of him?
Before he reached the doors to the main building they swung open and a group of five smartly dressed men walked out. The professor appeared behind bidding them goodbye and thanking them for their assistance. They passed by Stuart nodding to him as they did. The professor waved him through the door. He walked into the refectory where he was met by Catherine and Terry. The group gathered around one of the tables with coffees while Terry briefed them on the intelligence they had received.
The men Stuart saw leaving the refectory were from MI6. They had been informed by their counterparts in Beijing that a group of renegade Chinese agents, working for a man known as ‘The Chairman’, had managed to replicate their Harmoniser. According to the intelligence, they had been monitoring the professor and his team for some time through one of their agents working in the UK. They suspected this same agent was the one responsible for the death of Jim McGonagall. Terry informed them the group had recently become known to the Chinese Government when the organisation had started to recruit the country’s top scientists. Chinese intelligence operatives had since managed to infiltrate the group and were receiving information from one of their own men on the inside. The insider reported that a Western man was being held within their facility against his will. The man had been identified as David Milton.
“They probably think it is you they have Stuart,” the professor said. “And as long as they continue to believe that David will be fine,” he added.
What he did not reveal was his concern regarding how thorough their testing was and whether they were ready for a human transfer. In all probability they had Jim McGonagall’s laptop and the algorithms necessary to reverse engineer the Harmoniser. This did not guarantee success though. At best they might be able to send David through, but to where? At worst, it could result in him being torn apart molecule by molecule. Whilst he did not reveal his concerns to Stuart, he had expressed them to the secret service agents he had spoken to earlier. They agreed to do everything they could to get him out of there before they could put him into the machine.
“Are you not concerned about the Chinese Government knowing about the harmoniser?” Catherine asked the professor.
“Not at all Catherine,” he answered, “they are actually our biggest sponsors. Dr Cooper is their representative on the team.”
“Our guys are working very closely with the Chinese Security Service,” Terry added “and they will let us know as soon as there are any further developments.”
Stuart stared at his own blurred reflection in shiny surface of the table. He considered the implication of this latest information. Whatever happened to the David of this universe would have a direct effect on his brother in his universe. He could be plucked out of existence as a result of the machine going wrong, or his brother could find himself in the same situation he had been in for the past few weeks and he wished that on no one. This was yet another burden on his shoulders. He was starting to grow weary of this place. He wanted to go home.