Finn stared at Wayne’s flickering face, his thoughts whirring. Wayne was warning him that the Overtakers had a DHI server with the original flawed software that allowed Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. “You’re freaking me out,” Finn said.
“Yes. I can understand that.”
“How do you know any of this is for real?”
“I don’t. All I can tell you is, as a precaution, I’ve been taking twenty-minute naps—never a minute longer, hoping to keep them from crossing me over. So far it has worked. But for how long? The crossing over has to do with the dream state. We designed it that way. It occurs in the first few moments of REM sleep, which is about twenty minutes into a decent night’s sleep. The crossing over feels to you like it happens immediately—instantly—but that’s not the case. And another thing: I designed the crossing over to synchronize—that is, if you all go to sleep at about the same time, all five of you would then cross over at roughly the same moment. It saves the code from having to reload for each of you.”
“But what about the remote control? If we got in trouble, couldn’t you use that to cross us back over?”
“If your DHIs were all in the same place at the same time. Yes, that’s more than likely possible. But they could prevent that easily enough.”
“By keeping our DHIs apart.” Finn didn’t like what he was hearing. “So, what am I supposed to do?” he asked. Wayne was making it sound as if there was no hope: they were doomed.
“You need to stay awake. You need to find where the real Jezebel is being kept,” Wayne explained. “And you need to find that second server and take it back. At the very least, you need to crash it. But only once Jezebel is safe and you see that she’s fully awake. I wouldn’t mind if you contacted me then as well. If you crash that server before saving Jezebel…well…I’m not sure you or anyone else will ever see her again.”
“And if they catch you sleeping, then the same applies to you.”
“Never mind about me. It’s Jezebel we must concentrate on.”
“Why? Who is she?” Finn asked, hearing something different, something urgent, in Wayne’s voice. He knew something he wasn’t sharing.
Wayne grimaced. He looked sternly into the camera. “It’s not for me to say.”
“But you know?”
“I suspect. Knowing and suspecting are two different things.”
“Then tell me.”
“I can’t. That wouldn’t be fair to her or you. For one thing, I could be wrong. Listen, Finn, there are powers at work far greater than my own. It’s not for me to guess. If you’re to learn about Jezebel, it will have to come from another source.”
“Amanda.”
“Perhaps.”
“They’re sisters.”
“That’s a loosely thrown around term, now isn’t it, Finn? We’re all sisters and brothers, depending how far back you go.”
“They aren’t sisters,” Finn said, seeking an answer.
“It isn’t for me to say. That’s the best I can do.”
“Find Jez,” Finn said, repeating his instructions. “Find and crash the second server. Recover it if we can.
“It’s challenge enough, I know,” Wayne said. “But the bigger challenge will be how quickly you can accomplish any of this. You absolutely must have Jezebel safe and the server crashed before any of you fall asleep. If you sleep, you very well may be crossed over into that second server, the Overtakers’ server, and that would leave you—the real Finn—”
“SBS,” Finn said, cutting him off. “The Sleeping Beauty Syndrome.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“You’re afraid?” said Finn sarcastically. “How do you think I feel?”
“There’s one last thing I need to explain.”
Wayne was constantly doing this: holding stuff back, and Finn found it frustrating and annoying. It was as if…as if he were testing him.
“You’re surprised your friends haven’t IMed you,” Wayne said.
“Yes.” But how do you know that?
“And you’re probably wondering how I know that.”
“Okay. You win.”
“You’ll find them in your private room inside VMK. Maybe I’ll have time to explain about VMK at some point. For now, all you need to know is that I sent your friends the same link and password I just gave you. When we end this chat, all you have to do is click on the VMK logo on the landing page. It’ll link you directly to VMK.”
“No way!” Excitement filled Finn. He had loved the virtual community. The idea of returning…