Gravity vanished, replaced by a stomach-churning sensation of freefall through a tunnel of absolute, lightless pressure. Elian hit a subterranean platform with enough force to knock the wind from his chest. The impact tasted like iron and wet dust. Above him, the ceiling of the containment vault was a rapidly shrinking aperture, closing off the world of waking dreamers.
Sarah’s voice screamed from somewhere far above, muffled and distant.
Elian! Don't let him lock the partition!
He scrambled to his feet, his hands scraping against cold, slick metal. The chamber he had fallen into was not a natural tunnel. It was a massive, cylindrical data-well, a forgotten artery of the city’s original construction. The man in the lab coat. The architect stood on a gantry bridge fifty feet away, his si
