“Sick,” Finn whispered to himself.
A knock at the door, and a moment later Finn and Philby had connected the two staterooms by a common door between them. Philby and his mom had a room even bigger than Finn’s, with a dining table and living area, meaning two televisions and two bathrooms. Philby pointed out to Finn how not only the couch converted to a bed, but there was also a bunk hidden in the ceiling that could be set up by the steward at night.
The staterooms shared stewards, who were like butlers and housecleaners all in one.
“We’re out of here in five minutes. Okay?” Philby said.
“No problem.”
Finn turned on the television in his room, walked out onto the deck, and looked over the side. A few minutes later, he discovered a television that appeared in the mirror in the bathroom. The suite was sweet—it had all sorts of tricks.
He and Philby compared notes as they hurried down the hall. Finn knocked on Maybeck’s door. Maybeck opened it.
“You good?”
Maybeck opened his hand, revealing the all-important Return. The next-generation device linked to DHI 2.0 was smaller than the previous version. It looked like a rectangular thumb drive with a button in the middle.
“We’re going to put this somewhere only we can find it.”
“Center of the ship,” Philby reminded. The Dream was more than a thousand feet long; he didn’t want the Keepers to have to run a fifth of a mile of ship decks to exit DHI.
“It’s cool,” Maybeck said.
“And remember,” Philby warned, “they clean this ship every day like it’s a hospital.”
“I know…to keep everyone healthy.”
“We’ll have to find a place to hide it they won’t find.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Maybeck said, irritated. “You do your jobs and we’ll do ours.”
Stung, Philby stepped back.
“Easy,” Finn said to Maybeck.
“He’s not the only expert,” Maybeck said.
“Later,” Finn said.
He’d noticed small cracks developing between Philby and the other Keepers of late. Finn attributed them to Philby’s unnerving and growing sense of superiority. If you asked him, Philby didn’t have an equal. Finn knew that the stress, the nagging, often terrifying realization that there were people—creatures—after you, didn’t help things. It wasn’t something anyone should have to live with, Finn thought. The nightmares, the paranoia were all part of it. Jumping awake at the slightest sound; lying awake afraid to go back to sleep. Robbed of the only escape.
Philby assumed his brainpower gave him a position of superiority over the others. But impatience had replaced tolerance. Assuredness, confidence. Rudeness, consideration. He no longer thought himself superior—he knew it. How long he could last in a group whose members fed off one another was unclear, given his unwillingness to participate as an equal. Finn felt the rope fraying at both ends.
“You know,” Finn said to Philby, “in a way we, the Keepers, are kind of like the Base.”
“How so?”
“Under siege. Surrounded. We’re being slowly choked and starved by the enemy. Maybe not of food. But sleep. Tolerance. Patience.”
“Interesting analogy,” Professor Philby said. “But I don’t agree. Soldiers suffer in any war. We are not surrounded. We’re under attack. The two are very different. The strategy we must adopt, Finn, is to go on the offensive. Attack! We can’t sit back.”
“But where?” Finn asked, bristling at his attitude. He might have once expected such bravado from Maybeck, but Philby? “Who? The ISP for the OTs’ server keeps moving. How are we supposed to hit a moving target?”
“That’s why we’re here,” Philby reminded.
“Part of why we’re here,” Finn said.
“To each his own.”
“Meaning?”
“It’s why we’re here…it’s exactly what we’re about to do,” Philby said, as if obvious. “This is what it’s all about.”
Get a life, Finn felt like saying, knowing he too was overtired.
“You want a mind-bender?” Philby asked.
“Sure,” Finn said, always up for a challenge.
“How come when you—or any of us—goes all clear we don’t fall through the ground?”
Finn was about to answer when he caught himself. “Interesting.”
“We can pass through walls. Stuff can pass through us. Yet we don’t sink into the ground and disappear. Why not?”
“All clear,” Finn clarified, “as opposed to holograms, since the holograms are projections?”