Free Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead

to a topic he did not wish to explore. He changed the subject. “Good tea.”
    “Thank you.” She bent her head and sipped from her steaming mug. He watched the delicate curve of her neck and the way the light reflecting off the table filled the hollow of her throat. Her blond curls swung down as she drank and she tossed them back with an easy, practiced flip. Their eyes met. Spence looked away.
    “I should be going. I have to get back to work. I sat around in sick bay a little longer than I should have, I think.”
    “Very well, but you must promise to come again. Soon.”
    “I will.” He rose to his feet and headed for the door.
    Ari followed him and said as the panel slid open, “Spence, I almost forgot. We're having a function here tomorrow evening— I mean, second shift. You're invited.”
    “I am? Since when?”
    “Since right now. I'm inviting you. It's just a few of the faculty and research people. Daddy thinks it's a good idea for the two groups to mix. You'll fit right in.”
    “I don't know. I'll think about it.” He stepped through the portal.
    “Please come. I'll expect you—” The sliding panel cut her short and Spence headed back to the lab.
    He thrust his hands deep into the side pockets of his jumpsuit and ambled along with his head down. Soon he was lost in thought over his inexplicable behavior in the cargo bay. Assuming that the physician was right—and there was no reason to doubt him—what had he been doing down there? Why couldn't he remember?
    I'm cracking up. I am losing my mind.
9
    “A RE YOU RELAXED, SPENCER?”
    “Yes.”
    “I am going to give you a new suggestion. Are you ready?”
    “Yes.”
    “I want you to think about the color blue. Do you understand? Think of all the things that are blue and that suggest the color blue to you. The color blue, Spencer. Blue.”
    THE WIND HAD RISEN out of the east and Spence turned his face into it. It blew cold and the sky above glowered down in a fierce blue-black rage. Close by he heard the chop of water as waves dashed themselves against rocks in the shallows. He turned to the sound and saw the ocean stretching out to the horizon, blue under the dark blue clouds.
    He looked into the clear blue water and saw small silver-blue fish darting by in schools, speeding like tiny rockets away into deeper space. Suddenly Spence was with them. He felt himself sinking into the water as around him the fish flashed through the blue half-light of their frigid world. He could see their silver sides zigzagging off into the murky distance. He could see their large, round eyes staring at him as they fled.
    Down and down he sank. Slowly—like a coin spinning over and over to rest finally upon the silt at the ocean's bottom. He felt the ocean floor rise up beneath his feet, and as he touched down he realized he was not in the water at all. He raised his eyes and saw that he had dropped into an enormous cavern whose high vaulted roof arched away into blue shadows.
    Curiously formed projections sprouted from the floor and dangled from the ceiling. These were translucent and faintly luminous, glowing with a cool greenish-blue inner light. He walked a few hesitant steps among them as among the timbers of a silent forest, his footsteps echoing back to him from the dark depths of the cave.
    He became aware of another sound which seemed to come humming up from beneath the floor, through his feet and into his bones, a grinding sound which grew louder as he descended deeper into the tunnel.
    Spence walked among the glowing stalagmites following the sound. Soon he heard a rhythmic thrumming as if the Earth were churning, grinding the great stone roots of the mountains to dust. The sound grew until it filled the cavern; he walked on as if drawn to its source. His stomach vibrated with the rumble and he smelled a sharp, bitter scent in the dank air of the cave.
    Far ahead he saw a pulsing blue light illuminating a far wall of the cave. He felt something gritty on his