Sleeper Seven by Mark Howard Page B

peaceful state of awareness. It was a feeling of persistence, of determination, of
pressure
— which was totally at odds with the knowledge that nothing is needed, and there is nothing to be done. Instead of subsiding, however, it only increased, developing into a waveform, rising and a resolving, over and over. A tiny thing, the pattern seemed familiar, somehow, and curiosity attracted her consciousness to it, away from bliss. Like pieces of a puzzle falling into place, the waveform suddenly made sense. It was a single word: "Jess".
    As the concept of the word coalesced within her consciousness, she identified with it, and the pulling sensation overwhelmed her as she was suddenly sucked backwards into the tunnel. Her name kept repeating over and over, growing louder and dropping by octaves as her density increased. Snapping back into her body in the Sec-U, she felt heavy again — just like the first time.
    "Jess!"
    "Ahhhh!" she screamed, her eyes flying open. "Stop! Please!"
    Julian was leaning over her, fear in his eyes.
    "Oh, thank God! I thought you weren't coming back," he exhaled, slumping onto the end of the bed and cradling his head in his hands. As he caught his breath, she watched a drop of sweat fall from his brow.
    A dull ache and a wave of fatigue suddenly enveloped her. "Oh man. I've got a splitting headache," she moaned, pushing herself up and cradling her own head. "Why were you screaming at me?"
    "Jess, you were gone for
two hours
. I was afraid I was going to have to call in backup. Terry'd be pretty pissed too, I didn't follow protocol, I thought you'd be alright. I'm so sorry."
    "Oh, shit. Wow. It was literally, like, seconds," she replied, reclining back on the bed with her hands still pressed against the sides of her head. "Well, I guess I'm done for today, obviously."
    "I'll give you some time alone. Sorry again," Julian said apologetically, as he slowly backed out of the room. She lay there for several minutes before getting up and returning to her room in the main house, where she took a long nap.
    By dinner, she was feeling better, though still quite drained.
    "Rough riding today, eh?" Terry asked, winking at her as he entered the dining room with a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Apparently he did tell Terry,
she thought. Terry seemed to sense enough to give her some space and didn't press her for details. He gathered, correctly, that she needed a rest and recharge, and the dinner proceeded apace. Like the previous night, Jess enjoyed the meal much more than the conversation, today especially so.
    That night's diversion was an evening nature walk, which Jess didn't even have to decline — everyone seemed to expect her to be antisocial, as they could plainly see she wasn't on the 'standard' program. She was
Special
. Whispered rumors about her had been swirling since she arrived, so at dinner she was left well enough alone, and was glad for it. Taking an early bedtime, she fell asleep to the droning of the cicadas outside.

~ 21 ~
    S he found Terry downstairs the next morning, once again filling in for Julian in the kitchen.
    "Hey, glad you're up," he greeted as she peeked her head into the kitchen. "Let's do an early session today, since the group has the chamber this afternoon. So right after breakfast meet me back in here and we'll head down."
    "No more distance work today I hope?"
    "No, no, no — after talking to Julian, it's clear we need to do some energy manipulation work first. Distance comes later."
    Intrigued about 'energy manipulation', she agreed, and after a pancake breakfast, they walked together down to the dome.
    "So, tell me everything that happened yesterday," he asked excitedly. He had obviously been waiting to ask since the previous night.
    "Well, I went back to my house in Chicago to visit my friend Gavin, but he wasn't there. Then I just sort of spaced out again, and couldn't remember why I was there or anything. A few seconds later I heard my name being called, then I was pulled