Chapter 13-London Catherine

She assumed that the Nodders Room was bare of beauty. Its walls were cream, not peeling or dirty, just pale cream. There was no decoration at all and, nonetheless, the elegance in front of her surprised Catherine even more than she could have imagined.

Sean saw the overpowering emotion register on her face before she could conceal it. A slight smile played on his lips. He guesses he gets that a lot. 

"By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I just had to say how wonderful you look today, Catherine." He complimented him with a ridiculous wink.

Catherine was beyond shocked as she strolled. His words were like vanilla ice cream, sweet in their typical sort of way. It was the richness of his tones, glorious and warm. He was flirting with her. her heart! Oh, her heart! 

Astonishment doesn't quite cover it. She felt like someone had just taken her inner spark of wonder and spilled kerosene on it. The smile she showed on the outside couldn't reflect what she had inside; it was like every neuron in her brain was trying to fire in both directions at once. She still doesn't want to trust him, but the man was likable. From Fluency

It wasn't what he said through that made her turn scarlet, as she's been doing a lot of blushing these past few days. It was his smile. 

The form of his lips lifted upward. The way his one dimple crinkles The way his teeth are flawlessly aligned The soft glow of his happiness gives His laugh was a ray of sunshine, and it sunburned her head to toe. Disgusted with that thought, she waltzes in.

When they stepped inside, Catherine was beyond awestruck. The device was enormous, like an MRI scanner, but this Nodders Device was much bigger and fancier. It consists of a large doughnut-shaped magnet that has a shaft in the center. Nodders are placed on a table that slides into the shaft. It has larger openings and is helpful for Nodders with claustrophobia. 

"I called that machine the "Nodders Device." Nasir interrupted her thoughts as the surprise on her face was visible from a mile away.

Nasir added proudly. This mechanism was so sophisticated that during the sleep of the nodders, radio waves manipulate the magnetic positions of the atoms in the brain, which are picked up by a powerful antenna and sent to a computer. The computer performs millions of calculations, resulting in clear, cross-sectional black and white images of the brain. It can convert these images into three-dimensional (3-D) pictures of the scanned area.

She was impressed. "That makes sense; it looks like a normal MRI, but that one was more futuristic," she said, impressed.

If an MRI can detect a variety of conditions in the brain, such as cysts, swelling, developmental and structural abnormalities, or problems with the blood vessels, the Nodders Device was way more advanced, a hundred times greater than a standard MRI and topping even the most advanced scanners in the world. The technologies used at the center were some of the most powerful tools available for understanding the structure and workings of lucid and non-lucid dreams, which were necessary for both primary and translational research. Nasir added. He then pointed out the necessary information and uses of the equipment.

Last year, the DRI team received a $9.7 million Nodders Initiative grant to pursue the next generation of brain imaging with the magnet courtesy of Sean. Nasir explained this while Catherine watched in awe.

"Are you ready, Catherine?" He inquired, bracing himself, but she just smiled and made rote apologies for not listening to his explanation earlier. 

"My point is that the human brain was a supercomputer built on top of a clunker."The clunker was your primitive, reptilian, survival brain. The supercomputer does your proper thinking, is logical, fair, and kind. When you are afraid, the bandwidth of your supercomputer gets used up, leaving the clunker to do all your thinking for you. You go from outstanding to primal and basic in a heart-beat, and this device can do way more than that, and more than just scan your brain activity, "Nasir explained, while the rest were listening like school kids ready for a fairy tale story.

What if we could wake up in our dreams and live out our wildest fantasies every night? What would we do? He continued.

"The obvious answer was this machine, this baby." pointing towards his beloved device.

This baby here can monitor your activities in the Land of Nod, so we included a sophisticated tracking nanotech. It's like a normal GPS, but this one is designed for your dreams. Your lucid or non-lucid dream, Catherine." He replied proudly.

"We'd tried this with Sean and Nathan, but it doesn't carry out with them, so let's try this on you." He hopes for a better result this time.

"I have a theory that somehow my intuition says that this tracking nanotech will act on your consciousness or maybe more."

"What is that?" She asked, pointing to the nanotech in Nasir's hand.

"These babies here were injectable. They were manufactured with the best nanotechnology in history."

"What on earth it was supposed to mean? You have me confused there for a minute." Catherine inquired.

From FluencyThese were particles that were less than one hundred nanometers, or about one-thousandth the width of a human hair. " He then explained nanotech.

"The nanotech tracker has been applied to the design and engineering of advanced injectable biomaterials. But this one here was way more advanced. While the nanotech runs into your bloodstream to your brain, I programmed this baby to stay in your brain and track your activities. "

Oh, no!So this one here will be in my bloodstream for the rest of my sleep? "

"Yes!"

Was there any side effects? "she asked as she looked at Sean, catching him rolling his eyes as he pretended to yawn. Grinning, looking groomed for the lecture circuit—fit and tan in a black turtleneck, his facial hair landscaped. Damn that man and his flirting. What the hell happened to him that changed his demeanor? Catherine stared.

"None, no side effects," Nasir added.

"Are you certain?" 

Well, a little on that matter. Nanoparticles may damage the lungs, but we made certain your body has developed a tolerance to most occurring elements and molecules that it comes into contact with. It has no natural immunity to new substances and is more likely to find them toxic, but you don't need to worry about it. We programmed the nanotech to avoid any organ damage. 

Amazing Wow

Nasir looked pleased with the compliment. But Catherine stared at him, unconvinced by his explanation. 

See? It's like a passive GPS tracking system; this nanotech will monitor your location and will store its data on journeys based on certain types of events. So, for example, this tracking nod system may log data such as where the device has traveled in the past twelve hours. The data is stored on the computer tracking system and stored in internal memory, which can then be downloaded to a computer later for analysis, "he added.

"Can you guarantee my safety?" 

"Yes!" A note of flickering annoyance in his voice, like he's getting worked up toward something.

"Should I sign up for any contract?" she asked.

"Yes, Sean and I can arrange that afterward."

Okay, it settles then! We need to hurry to save Nathan! "I'm confident in Micah's ability to protect him, but there were far more feral creatures lurking in the Dark Forest than I could imagine."Eyeing Sean.

"I expected your interest in that device, and yet here you are, concerned about Nathan!"

Of course I am worried. He was my friend too, and by the way, are you one hundred percent sure this plan of yours will work?

"Don't fuss, Catherine; you were in expert hands. Our technicians were expert and well-trained." They can collaborate with the scientific staff on a peer basis during your sleep, and besides, I'm here to supervise. We'll be integrated and clustered into expertise groups, and we'll build around specific infrastructure to monitor your progress, "he added.

Okay then, when to start?

"How about now?" Sean asked, smiling.

-

In a moment's flash, they stand amid vast blackness. It was the complete shutdown of everything, except for the dull light around them. This darkness weighed on their shoulders. The isolation felt as if it were brooding and rotating, eating them alive. The lone dark lurking and the sheer depth of their darker self creeping out bring their fear to new heights.In that wasteland of obscurity, there was nothing for their minds to hang onto. There was no familiar sight, no sound other than the howling of the unforgiving wind and the sinister chilling of the weather.

"Oh! Crap! Are we back in the dark forest? " Sean asked, puzzled.

I don't think so. Wait! If I'm not mistaken, we are in the Wasteland, "she responded in an even more worried tone. Her eyes could not penetrate the darkness no matter which way she turned. The streams of waste were awful, the smell of dreadful sulfur and a lot more.

"Goodness me! It stinks like hell in here! " He said.

"What's going on?" She asked herself. Fear hits her like a falling tree in an ice storm. The hair on the back of her head stands up. This vast, empty wasteland that surrounds them horrified her. It's pitch black. And yet, they don't have any idea why they are here.

The pungent vapor filled their nostrils, turns their stomach. Only the hearts beating in their chests stopped them from becoming as frozen as the landscape. When Sean whirled around to at least see the tracks they had made, there were none. The only way to navigate was from Catherine's fire and in only a few hours if they won't leave this misery, they'll be dead in no time from shivering under the stars as the wind was chilling their bones.

"Why the hell are we here?" she asked Sean. 

Did they land here on purpose or was this a landing gone wrong? They need to do something. She was thirsty. So much so that her throat burned and her eyeballs were quite dry. Yet, there was nothing to drink. 

She needs water now. She was in the grip of silent terror. Not only that, but she cannot concentrate on anything else. Even breathing was hard. The next step was her heart beats harder and quicker, adrenaline levels rise. She was having a panic attack.

"Sean? Let's go back. I can't take this anymore."

"Are you certain?" He could feel it, building like an unstoppable snowball in the pit of his stomach. - formalized paraphrase

They both wake up sooner than a cat in ice-water, every sense urging them to claw their way out of that hellhole.

Catherine felt woozy and lightheaded. Her brain seemed like it was being stretched and let go like an elastic band, and she was beyond drowning, drowning from that hell. Her balance became worse, her vision was blurry. Her mouth was dry and her palms were sweating. She wanted to cry about the state that she was in, but she couldn't. She was weak, but she wouldn't let anyone know how nervous she was. Likewise, she couldn't produce any tears or won't.

That's all Sean said. "This room was on fire." His voice sounded like the words were formed of smoke, his lungs charred. The air smelt of burning, acrid, chemical-infused, and choking-no wonder Sean could speak. 

The alarm's sound left an odor of smoke in the air. 

"Where the hell was everyone?" He asked himself. searching for his team.

Before any genuine fear takes hold, they were on their way out of the Nodders room. It's only when she was in his arms, and he realized the stairs weren't an option, that his heart pounds. He desired to save her. Catherine was having a panic attack. He requires a choice now. And faster.

The smoke thickened, and he let her down to the floor. She copied him, crawling to the street-facing window. It's too high to jump, a broken neck for sure, but from here rescue was at least possible. So now they hold their hearts out to the almighty and pray for rescue to come in time.