Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (63 page)

Maria watched Mayor Dubois slam the phone back
in its cradle. "That self-centered, egotistical bastard. He just hung up on me."

Alan Beakman motioned to the mayor, phone
covered by one hand. "I've got Senator McCreery on the line. He's willing to
hear you out."

As the mayor resolutely turned to the next phone
call, Maria heard Zack whisper grimly, "It's not going to work, is it? We're
not going to be able to stop it."

And Maria had nothing to say to comfort him
because he was right.

Power Station, Table Rock Dam

"So nobody had remembered about the pet store
animals," Corporal Tommy Sinclair was saying to Lisanne. "All those poor
animals left there in their cages when the owner ran away. Doc Clay, that vet,
he says they're gonna be okay. Mostly just need to be fed and loved on and they'll
be okay--there now, see that gauge? As long the needle stays in that range, we're
okay."

Lisanne nodded, making another note on her
clipboard. It wasn't as complicated as she had anticipated, just a lot of
detail work. Of course, if things started going wrong, it would get complicated
fast.

"What did Samantha say?" Lisanne asked. "Didn't
she realize they were there?"

"I dunno," Tommy replied. "I sure wouldn't ask
her about it. Wouldn't want to sound like I was accusing her of not looking out
for things. 'Sides, she's only a kid. How much stuff can she keep in her head
at one time?"

Lisanne considered that and decided that they'd
better hope Sam could keep a hell of a lot in her head at one time. At least
until they all got better at animal talking and dreaming.

"Anyway, Doc Clay says for me to come 'round
there any time I want and see which dog takes to me. He says there's bound to
be one I can talk to. But they are mostly puppies so it might take a while. I
guess they have to learn just like little kids do, you know, how to talk and
stuff."

Grinning, Lisanne thought of Merlin's disdain
for dogs. His reaction to puppies would be something to see. Letting her mind
focus on Merlin, she sensed him lazily curled up at home on the balcony outside
her bedroom, basking in some warm sunshine and doing absolutely nothing.
Lisanne decided not to pry into that--he could be so grouchy sometimes!

She set down the clipboard on the desk and said,
"So, you wanna help me move the telescope up here from the car? I thought I'd
set one up here since this is my home away from home."

Tommy nodded. "Sure thing, Lis. Can I look
through it tonight?" He was grinning eagerly, Lisanne noted.

"Absolutely. It'd be good if you learned all
about it. Better if we have more than just me looking for...." Her voice trailed
off.

"Looking for what?" he questioned.

"Oh...nothing...you know, looking for stars,
seeing what we can see," Lisanne replied diffidently.

Tommy said, "Great! Man, I get to talk to a
puppy, see the stars--things are really going fantastic!"

Lisanne shook her head at him, but his broad
grin was utterly irrepressible.

After a few moments and more checks of the dials
in the station, Tommy asked hesitantly, "So you and Andy, you guys are, like, a
couple, right?"

"What?" Lisanne's lavender eyes opened wide. "A
couple? Where did you get that idea? Sure, we traveled a long ways together,
and he helped me out--well, I helped him, too, I think--but I never met him
before then, and really how do I even know what he's like? We have nothing in
common, nothing. Really. It is possible, you know, for a man and a woman to
just be friends. So what if he's around a lot? Doesn't mean anything. All
right, yes, so maybe there is some attraction there, and sometimes I wonder if--"
She stopped talking abruptly as Tommy grinned at her.

"Yeah, uh, right. Not a couple. Yep, that's
obvious, Lis."

Lisanne tossed her clipboard at him.

The Farm, Cape Fair

"I was a car salesman," Bob Perkins was saying
to Gracie. "Now you want me to be a farmer?"

Gracie laughed quietly and said, "It's a new
life we are creating here, Bob. Farmers are going to be perhaps the most
important people in this new world."

The new arrival sipped coffee and then asked, "Hey,
how long will we have coffee?"

"Ah, yes, a question I've heard a lot lately. We
have quite a bit stored and can salvage some, but eventually...we can't grow
coffee here, outside of a greenhouse."

Gracie studied the man across from her at the
big kitchen table. Tall, in good shape, slightly balding brown hair, he looked
to be around forty or so. He appeared somewhat bewildered by all the changes he'd
faced over the past few days, but also seemed pretty steady. Not like he was
about to crack up. Not like Abby. Which was a darn good thing, she thought.
Probably had been helped by his kids and his wife having the dreams and
convincing him it was all real.

"We're going to need wheat and vegetables. There
are some orchards around as well. Tomatoes are going to be a staple. This
region is great for tomatoes. We'd like to use the tomato canning plant if we
can figure out how to run part of it, which might have to wait for the future.
If not, we'll can them ourselves. Right now, we just need to get as much
planted as we possibly can. You think you can learn to drive a tractor and some
other farm machinery?"

Bob's expression lightened up. "If it has an
engine, I can drive it, Gracie, don't worry about that!"

She asked hesitantly, "How has all this been for
you? The disasters, the dreams, coming here?"

He shook his head and stated, "Completely
bizarre. When the kids, Emma and Hank, first started getting the nightmares--and
then we realized they were dreaming of things that were coming true, well, it
was a shock! Then my wife, Penny, she started getting the dreams too. I didn't
know what to think. But they were all so certain what they were dreaming was
real."

He sipped his coffee and stared down at his
hands. "You know, to wake up each night to the screams and cries of your kids,
of your wife, and not be able to help them, to stop this thing that was
happening to them--it wasn't easy for me. It seemed to get better when they
started dreaming about coming here. They all just ganged up on me," he ended,
chuckling. "Let's face it, you don't up and leave a good job and take off on a
whim! But they kept at me, and they were so certain. So we headed south from
Michigan. And ended up here. Where there really was a town called Cape Fair
with other dreamers and animal talkers, and...Samantha. She was real too."

Gracie smiled. "Isn't she a cutie? My
granddaughter, you know. She's such a joy to be around," Gracie said lightly.

"Oh! I didn't realize--you're her grandmother?
Wow, that must be something. She's a special little girl."

"Well, all grandmothers think their
grandchildren are special, Bob. And Sam does have some special abilities, it's
true, but she's just a regular little girl, after all." Gracie watched and
wondered if that statement would remove the reverence that entered Bob's tone
when he spoke of Sam. Nope. She sighed inwardly.

Bob was saying, "But she's more than that. Emma
and Hank talked about her all the way here. She knows things. Things no one
else knows. I'm just thankful we have her here at Cape Fair. As soon as I met
her, I knew my family would be safe."

So, Gracie thought, John was right. Or rather
Alexandra was right--the one who had proposed the theory to John. Sam was going
to be placed in a position of power, or moral authority, or awe--probably no
matter what they did. Still, this was just one family. And perhaps out there
somewhere was someone else like Sam, someone who could share that
responsibility. Gracie hoped so. She hoped so very much.

The Stables at the Farm

Janine watched Max mount the gray gelding again.
"Good," she said, smiling. "You got it that time. Okay, let's walk some more."

Max sat stiffly in the saddle and envied Janine's
easy grace on horseback. This was harder than he'd thought it would be, but
Black insisted he learn to ride. And Black was fast becoming the most important
person in his life.

"See? It's not so bad," Janine was saying. "I
could see you just let yourself relax. I bet you were thinking about something
else and your body just did what it was supposed to do naturally."

"Oh, okay," said Max, tensing up again. How
could he repeat it if he wasn't sure what he'd done?

Janine started to laugh. Max looked offended and
said, "Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Oh, sorry--no," Janine said immediately, her
face becoming serious. "I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at the horses--what
they were saying."

Max sighed heavily and asked, "The horses were
laughing at me?"

"No, no," Janine said, smiling again. "They were
reminding me of the first time I rode a horse. How it was so hard to relax and
just ride. It seemed like so much to do, so much to remember."

Max looked stunned. "You? You were tense on a
horse? That seems impossible."

"Well,
now
, maybe," Janine replied. "But
back then it was new to me too."

Max nodded, and then said, "Uh, Janine can I ask
you something?"

She looked at him warily. "Okay."

"Is it weird for you here? All these new people
and everyone so nice to us and all. Total strangers being nice to me! It's
never been like this for me my whole life. I just wondered how it was for you."

Janine's little sigh of relief was witnessed
only by her horse. The horse knew she was afraid of questions about her past.

"Well, sure it's strange, Max. Everything is
strange lately. Strange, but kinda wonderful." She paused and went on. "You're
right that everyone is a stranger, but in a way they aren't. Most of them are
having the dreams or becoming animal talkers, so we are all alike too."

"Yeah, that's true. Sam says one day Ruby and me
will be able to talk as easy as her and Harry."

"That's cool," Janine replied. She noticed as
they talked that he did just fine as long as they were having a conversation,
something to distract him. So she continued. "Being here at the Farm is great,
and Gracie is just such a good person."

"I don't really know her yet." Max grinned. "Of
course, Rachel has talked about her some."

The two teenagers laughed together over Gracie
and Rachel's stormy relationship.

Max said, "I guess the worst part is being a
dreamer. Some of the dreams are just so awful. It doesn't seem fair."

"Fair?" Janine asked, puzzled.

"Well, if we can dream really bad stuff that
comes true, why can't we dream good stuff too? It's just all bad dreams, no
good ones anymore."

"Huh, I never thought of that," Janine replied. "Lemme
ask the horses."

He watched as she sat still on the horse, eyes
closed for a minute.

"Oh!" she said, "We will, we can! Not yet--but
someday. They think we can, anyway. They say the stuff going on now is just too
big. It takes up all the dreaming space or something like that. I don't always
understand what they mean," she said, peering regretfully at her horse,
Feathers.

"Hey, that's cool," said Max. "To know one day
we could have good dreams again. Definitely cool."

Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts

Phoebe counted the suitcases again. Still all
there. Good. Now if they would just leave! Sitting on the edge of a chair in
Mayor Dubois' hotel suite, she wanted to leave this place. Leave before all the
horror started. But they were arguing again.

"And I'm telling you that it's impossible!
First, you're the only one who dreamed it Zack," Margaret was saying
forcefully. "Second, even if it's true, what the hell can we do to stop it?"

"Damn it, Margaret, we have a major news
reporter here, I have a camera, we could lie to the studio and get on the air.
Warn people, warn the rest of the government so they at least knew what he was
planning--maybe stop the idiotic president from this craziness. It might work,"
Zack countered.

Alan hung up the phone and announced, "We wouldn't
be heard beyond the Mississippi, nor down south. Communications are breaking up
all over. But we could still be heard, be seen, here on the East Coast. Which
is where it's important we be heard." He pulled up a chair next to Phoebe. She
watched him warily.

"And do what?" Margaret demanded. "Cause a
stampede of panicked people? All getting in their cars and jamming the highways,
polluting the air even more--"

"Oh, for God's sake, Margaret, air pollution
from an evacuation is not the biggest concern!" Mayor Dubois stated. "I think
millions of people dying are just a tad more important."

"It's short-sighted thinking like that which has
gotten us into this mess," Margaret replied hotly. "We can't go on with these
attitudes toward the planet. Don't you get it yet? We have to change our way of
life, our behavior, our lack of concern for nature in a drastic way to stop it
all from happening."

Maria interjected quietly, "But, Margaret, the
bomb isn't coming from nature. Phoebe and I did some research and this thing
could really happen. A bomb in and of itself might not be enough to cause it,
but once a bomb triggers off a slide, a landslide underwater--well, the gas
hydrate deposits will destabilize the slope until there is a major failure, and
then--tsunami."

"Gas hydrates? What is that? Something else we
have polluted the ocean with?" Margaret accused.

"No, no," Maria began, only to stop as Phoebe
spoke up.

"Gas hydrates are a mix of methane gas and water
which are frozen. Frozen hydrates contain as much as 164 times the amount of
methane than when in gas form. They are a huge storage of gas on the sea floor.
Some scientists have been concerned that if global warming caused the ocean
temperatures to rise, more methane would be released from the gas hydrates into
the water and then eventually into our atmosphere. If that had happened, it
would be a major greenhouse gas that would have changed the climate on a global
scale--but, I guess that won't happen now," she ended weakly.