Broken Dreams (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 5) Read Free Page A

panels. When the doctor saw Mara step in, she called to an attendant and said, “Tina, could you mute the conference please?”
    The conversation on the screen was silenced.
    Dr. Canfield met Mara at the door, then pulled her aside toward the back of the room, away from the attendants.
    “Is everything all right? I got the impression something was wrong,” Mara said.
    “We had two people at other repositories flatline a few minutes ago. We lost one, but we were able to resuscitate the other. Both were elderly, so no one is sure if it’s a direct consequence of the elevated anxiety the occupants are presenting. Obviously it didn’t help,” the doctor said.
    “So you haven’t found a solution for what’s happening to them?”
    Dr. Canfield shook her head. “No, we’re stumped. For the time being we can counteract the symptoms, but that’s a short-term solution. We can’t keep pumping drugs into everyone for long, primarily because it’s not healthy. Secondarily it’s not sustainable. We never before anticipated administering a pharmaceutical across the entire repository population. With a limited supply, we’ll run out shortly. If we don’t find what’s causing this soon, we are going to lose more than a couple old people.”
    “Why did you call for me? What can I do to help?”
    The doctor glanced toward the attendants to make sure none were looking in their direction and lowered her voice. “I don’t for a minute believe any of our earlier discussion in my office, but, considering the introduction of new variables into the repository system, it might be prudent to remove your two friends and your brother. It won’t resolve our issues, but it will be one less thing we should consider. I wanted to get your permission before proceeding.”
    “Can you keep them in stasis after you remove them from the system?” Mara asked.
    “No, we need to shut down their receptacles. All of them are now virus-free, but, if they leave the receptacles, they’ll be reinfected. I would recommend that you depart to your own realm as soon as we power down their receptacles.”
    “The only problem with that scenario is Abby—and the Aphotis—will wake up. I can’t guarantee I can get her out of here before she escapes or does something even more destructive in the repository.”
    “How were you planning to remove her from the receptacle when you first placed her there?” the doctor asked.
    “I hadn’t thought it out that far. I figured she could stay in stasis long enough for me and Ping to find a way to get her out safely. It never occurred to me that putting her in there was introducing her into a dream realm your biological bodies cooked up.”
    The doctor gritted her teeth. “ That is impossible.”
    “Access the technical specs to the repository. Look at the schematics of the syncing protocols. Nothing prevents one receptacle from signaling another. It is technically possible for the occupants to communicate with each other.”
    “That doesn’t prove they are. And it certainly doesn’t prove the occupants have created a whole new world for themselves.”
    Mara raised her hands as if fending off an attack. “All right. I’m not going to convince you of anything. How about we try an alternate plan that won’t unleash the Aphotis on the world again? We could disable the signal processors in the console of Abby’s receptacle. That would eliminate the only connection she could use to access the rest of the repository system while keeping her in stasis. We can do the same for Ping and Sam, if you like. None of them need to sync with a biological body anyway.”
    “All that presumes I believe in this dream-realm hypothesis, and I don’t.”
    “No, it doesn’t. Don’t believe in the dream realm if you don’t want to. What we are doing is eliminating the possibility that Abby is causing the anxiety spikes of the other occupants via the only possible connection she has. Eliminate the signals from her