Silmoa had been nasty to Liana all day. It seemed as though she actually enjoyed prodding her with the shocking stick, and as Liana laid down in her bed, she could still feel the pain. But it wasn't just the physical pain that hurt. The idea that somebody who she'd thought of as a friend could do this to her was even more painful. And not so long ago, when they still lived in Seren-ila, Silmoa was the person who always talked about how you had to take account of the Seren Way. Liana had always felt bad, guilty even, that she didn't live up to the way Silmoa thought a person in Seren-ila should be. And even feeling guilty was not a Seren Way, so that made her feel worse. It was as if now Silmoa had just switched from the Seren Way to the Barty way, without thinking about what these things meant. Liana couldn't understand it. Silmoa never talked about her brother, Herago. Didn't she care what was happening to him? Didn't she even wonder?
Liana closed her eyes, but she couldn't sleep. Her thoughts ran away from her, and instead of the calm drowsiness that she needed, questions kept echoing in her mind. When and how did Silmoa become like this? Would she always be like this? Was this the real Silmoa, or was it an act she was putting on? Questions, but no answers.
Liana wanted so much to sleep. She had to sleep. Sleep was the only escape from Bartyronis, and perhaps into Seren-ila. She had to get back to Seren-ila. Seren-ila, where she might be able to meet up with Herago.
She still didn't know whether to believe what the dream was telling her. Or rather, what the dream-Herago had told her. He had described the building he lived in, and then she saw that very building in real life. She turned it over in her mind. Could it just be a coincidence? Or was there some other explanation? But what sort of explanation? Maybe she had seen that building before. Had she seen it when she wore the special helmet? No, she couldn't recall ever seeing it. She hadn't been back to the place that used to be Middle Meadow. Nobody had told her about it, she was sure of that.
Or could she have just thought she had seen the place in her dream? Could her memory of the dream have appeared in her mind after she had seen that building? That was the only explanation that made any real sense. But still, that wasn't what she believed. What she believed was impossible.
Impossible. Impossible. Impossible.
Just like Herago to be doing something that was impossible.
Her mind swung back to Silmoa. The three of them had been friends. How do people change like that? It wouldn't have happened in Seren-ila. Does that mean that people are different, according to where they are? Was Liana also different? She hoped not. She had to stay the same as she was, by holding on to the part of herself that had grown up in Seren-ila. Only dreaming of Seren-ila could keep her from changing to something she didn't want to be.
Seren-ila, Seren-ila, Seren-ila. She said the word over and over again in her mind.
And then, she thought of Seren numbers: Twil, twilfti, twillo, twillorio, twillorinio. Thinking of those comforted her.
At last, images of Seren-ila floated in front of her. She wanted to reach out and touch them, but she couldn't move. She could see Trentaya. Trentaya was climbing, high, high up on Greblara. She looked down over her shoulder at Liana, and then she disappeared. 'Use your wrist-flyers!' Liana wanted to say, but she was no longer there, in front of her.
The flat images in front of her eyes gained depth. At last she could walk into the places she could see. Liana moved forward and looked around. Yes! She was back in Seren-ila. She knew it was a dream of Seren-ila, but still, she was glad to be here. And she was looking for someone. Herago! Where was Herago? She had to go and find him. But where?
Seren-ila had been restored, in this dream, to its former glory, and Liana could wander through it, remembering things she had forgotten. She looked at the dwelling places, with their curved walls and bright colours, and the sight of them raised her spirits. But then she noticed that she was the only person here, and she felt sad.
She had to find Herago. Where would he be?
She knew where. She made her way to the place where they had spent most time together. The garden of the House of the Green Jewel. That was where she and Herago and Silmoa would sit and talk about what was going on, and what was coming up in Seren-ila.
And yes, as she reached the garden, she saw a boy with his back to her, sitting on the floor, doing something or other with some stones and some cups. Herago.
She decided to creep up and surprise him. But before she was two arms' lengths from him, he turned and smiled.
'I've been waiting for you,' Herago said. 'What have you been doing all this time?'
'What do you mean?'
'It's getting late, Liana. We don't have much time. We'll both have to get up soon,' Herago said.
'It took me a long time to get to sleep,' said Liana. 'I kept thinking about Silmoa. She's sleeping in the bed next to me.'
At the mention of Silmoa, Herago's eyes lit up.
'You've seen Silmoa? That's a relief. How is she? Is she very miserable?'
How much should Liana tell Herago about Silmoa, she wondered? He would be upset if he knew what she was doing.
'She's ... all right. She works with me, and she's coping with how things are.'
'She must be missing me. Tell her I'm missing her!'
'Yes, yes, I will. But Herago, Herago! It's amazing to see you!' She hugged her friend to her. 'Herago! You look just like you did before!' Liana couldn't really understand why she was speaking to Herago as though he was real, when she knew (didn't she?) that he was just a part of her dream, but it seemed quite natural.
'Herago,' she said, 'are you really here in my dream? How? Why?'
'I don't really know how it works, Liana. But I have a theory.' A theory! Just the sort of thing Herago would say! He continued:
'You see, it seems like this is your dream, but it's also my dream. We're sharing a dream. Maybe it's something to do with what the Bartys are doing with our thought patterns, and all these thought scanners all over the place. It could be that the thought scanners have somehow ... erm ... how can I explain this ... they've broken up the signals on which thoughts are carried, you see. After all, if the Bartys can reach into our minds, there must be a way in which we can get into one another's minds. And dreams are a special way of thinking – something in our minds. Since you told me about your "control dreams", I've been working to see if I could have control dreams too. And I managed it. Yes, I managed to do it. I made myself have a dream just like yours. And somehow, our two lots of control dreams have become entwined. Connected. Do you see?'
This was how Herago spoke. It was also the way he thought, which was not the way that Liana thought. It was the way he explained things. She would never have thought of all that. She couldn't have made this up from her own thoughts. So maybe it was true. Maybe this really was Herago, or at least some part of Herago that had reached into her dream.
A frightening idea suddenly occurred to her.
'Wait!' Liana said. 'Does this mean that the Bartyronians, the Bartys, can see into this dream that we're having now?'
'I don't know,' Herago replied, 'but I doubt they would be spending much time watching the dreams of a couple of Grabbler youngsters. There's not much that we've got that they would be interested in. Not that they know of, anyway.'
Liana was a little reassured. What Herago said made sense. But then again, she suddenly remembered, she had seen those machines, those thought scanners in her dreams before. Maybe it was just her worry about them that had made pictures of them creep into her dream. She thought back. It seemed that she had seen a machine like that before the Bartys arrived. That wasn't possible.
It wasn't worth thinking about. She looked around at the comforting green grass of the garden, the pink and white flowers, and she noticed that birds were flying around. The sight of the birds comforted her. She suddenly realised that she never saw birds in the new, Bartyronian world.
Liana wanted to ask Herago about how things were where he was living. What sort of work was he doing? But before she could ask, he spoke.
'Liana, we never finished our showing,' he said, and Liana nodded sadly. 'But I was thinking, maybe we could finish it now.'
Now Liana began to wonder again whether this really was Herago. Her dream, it seemed, was making him say things which were clearly quite impossible. But then she thought again.
'What are you talking about, Herago? When could we do our showing? To whom? Where?'
'Well, my idea is that we do our showing in Bartyronis, to the...'
Herago suddenly stopped, and looked around. Faintly, Liana could hear the sound of a siren. As Liana watched, Herago waved his hand at her. He mouthed the words 'next time', then she saw him slowly, surely fading away.
Almost immediately, a much louder siren sounded. Liana herself was dragged from her dream. Her eyes opened, and she was back in the hostel. Silmoa was sitting on her bed, looking at her quizzically. The waking alarm was sounding out, and all over the room, people were getting out of their beds.
'Hurry up, Ling. Time to get up,' Silmoa was saying. The dream was still in Liana's mind, and she was being torn between Seren-ila and Bartyronis. Opening her eyes wide, she began to wonder if the dream really had happened. 'Anyway, what were you smiling about?' Silmoa said, sharply.
A picture of Herago suddenly appeared in front of her, then just as quickly disappeared.
'Just remembering our showings in Seren-ila,' Liana said.
'Hmm. Well, you'd better try to forget all that,'Silmoa said. 'No use to you here.'
'Silmoa ...'
'Simek!'
'All right, Simek,' Liana replied, gently, 'I'm sure Herago is well. I'm sure your brother is thinking of you.'
Silmoa's eyes became watery, but she pressed her lips together hard. Then she spoke.
'We mustn't talk about things like that. Anyway, you don't know anything!'
Liana felt sorry for Silmoa. If only she could talk to her properly.
What was it Herago was going to tell her?
She had to get back to the dream.