LUCID

CHAPTER 26

Paul contacted me from the lab, halfway through my story, by buzzing me with a remote view. I left Rey and Arlo – said I'd see them again when I got back from the Void. They wished me well.

I turned up at the lab, beer still in hand. Sorrell's team, including Vicky and Ross, were there, with Colbert and his operative. Colbert got straight to business – impatient, formal. Not one question about my trip.

"This is Sergeant Markus Creed, he'll be going with you. He's my best man and he was an intimate friend of the operative you'll be locating."

"And her name?"

"Corporal Wolslow – Emma Wolslow."

"Do you have files on her for me to read?"

"That won't be necessary – Sergeant Creed can tell you all you need to know. How soon can you depart?"

"That depends on how ready I think Sergeant Creed is."

"He's ready. Fully briefed and highly trained."

I turned to Creed. He was a big, rugged guy who certainly looked highly trained. And no doubt he was fully briefed on his assignment – find Emma Wolslow and bring her back.

"Hi Sergeant, I'm Taylor." I held out my hand for him to shake. He shook it like he didn't really want to.

"Sir," he said.

"No 'sir', just Taylor. I'm not questioning your credentials Sergeant, I just want to make sure you're sufficiently prepared psychologically for this experience – for your sake and mine as well as Emma's."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, how much do you know about the Void and the Durge?"

"Well... nothing I guess."

"Exactly. Well, I'm going to tell you where I've just come back from, and then you'll be a little prepared." I turned to Sorrell, "Is there a room here where I can talk to Sergeant Creed alone?"

"Sure - here out back."

I turned back to Colbert. "When I've done with my talk, and I've gotten a good idea of Miss Wolslow, then we can make plans for departure. Give me an hour or so."

Colbert was clearly impatient, but he had to leave it for me to decide – I could see how this frustrated the hell out of him. He looked at Creed, nodded slightly. "One hour." He touched the sensor by his head and phased out of the lab.

"Sergeant," I said and led him into the back room.

He was a stern guy, with a look in his eyes that was hard, maybe even cold. He looked trained for all sorts of warfare, and I didn't doubt he'd be emotionally strong up against the Durge, but I really wanted to get a feel for his empathetic side – see what he had to say and how he felt when he talked of Emma. Locating her was the most important thing, and I needed him for that.

So I questioned him about his relationship with her. He told me they'd been lovers for a time, broke up due to the stress of their assignments, but still felt a lot for each other. When she'd disappeared he'd felt it was his fault, and often visited her body in the hope of bringing her back. I asked him to tell me about her character, her likes, her hates, her family, her future plans - he had reasonable answers for all, details like the clothes she wore when not on duty, places she wanted to visit, kids she wanted to have, music she loved, jokes she enjoyed... and he seemed to have a genuine fondness for her. The hardness in his face softened now he was out of the presence of Colbert – I saw that as a good sign.

But I also felt an element of disharmony in his frequency that I couldn't place. I decided to put it down to nervousness that he was trying to hide. I asked him about it.

"Yeah, I'm nervous," he admitted, "who wouldn't be? But I've been in many life-threatening situations and I've learned to control those emotions – you have to in my job."

"I accept that and respect it," I said, "but this place is different – the conditions you'll encounter in the Void are directly related to your deepest subconscious emotions – it's not an objective place, it's subjective. There are demonic entities there that come right out of your own mind and you can't just shoot them down with bullets or blow them up with grenades. Most of the battle will be in your psyche – I just want you to be clear of that."

"I understand. But you have to understand that I've been to other dark dimensions on the Astral, I know how it works, I expect to have to confront my own demons, and I'm ready to do that to get Emma back."

"Good – that's all I needed to know." Creed wasn't actually my responsibility in the end, he was on assignment from the U.S. military, and direct orders from Colbert, so I had to trust in his own evaluation of the risks he was undertaking. And he said he was ready so we were done. As a last question I asked if he had a photo of Emma, and he produced one from his pocket – the two of them in full military garb in the desert, arms around each other.

"Iraq," he said.

"Let's go get her," I said.

We joined the others. Creed teleported back to the physical lab to fetch Colbert. I spent the time telling the team about my trip and its success.

"What about the other coma patients?" Sorrell asked.

"That'll have to wait," I said. "There'll be other trips. Probably better to just concentrate on this one assignment for now. Anyway, I'm not even sure I can get us into the Void yet, let alone back with Emma. Did you manage to contact my brother?"

"Yes. He said he'll be sleeping a lot waiting for you. I was thinking – maybe we could arrange via the Agency to get them hooked up to here, get you and your family together, let them really see that you're okay."

"If you could do that I'd be forever grateful."

"I'll see what I can do. So what do you think of Creed?"

"He seems genuine enough, but I was going to ask you the same question."

"I don't know – don't really know him. Seen him around Colbert a lot. Like his right-hand man. Very loyal to him. That could be good or bad depending on what Colbert is up to. I'd say just be a little wary."

"He seems to care a lot for Emma, that's a good thing. Just hope he's as psychologically strong as he says he is – I don't particularly want to meet all the demons he's probably got locked away deep in his subconscious."

"Yeah, I get what you mean."