The Academy Of Time - Complete

Finding A Dream

Kota

" Mr. Lee, Are you prepared?" Mr. Blackbourne asked from behind me. I turned toward him buttoning the cuffs of the deep green button down I was wearing and narrowing my eyes a little at the odd note I could detect in his voice. I took a moment to really observe him. He was sitting stiffly and poking at his compad just a little too hard. His steel grey eyes had gone hard as ice and his normally perfect hair was mussed, as though he had continually run his hand through it. Now I was confused, Mr. Blackbourne was in charge of our team and he had always been very formal and hard to read but if I was reading him right this new mission worried him. I had to wonder if there was something he hadn't shared with the rest of the team. At our briefing earlier the mission hadn't sounded any different from many of the others we had been on recently, although this one apparently might take more time than most of our missions which is why I was going ahead to ensure that everything was in place for the rest of the team.

"Sir, Is everything okay?" I ask a little concerned.

"Everything is fine Mr. Lee," He said looking up, "why do you ask?"

" You just seem a bit worried sir," I replied. He sighed softly and tossed his compad on the table. Leaning forward on his elbows he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers causing his glasses to rise up to his forehead.

"I am worried Mr. Lee," He rose and walked over to stand in front of me crossing his arm across his chest, "I have a feeling this assignment may be more complicated than we have been led to believe. I have too many questions that have been left unanswered by the council. Why would what appears to be a simple reconnaissance and recovery mission take the amount

of time they are anticipating we will be gone? Why would we need the entire team when a couple of you would do? Why were we given no choice on this assignment?" He turned away from me and started pacing. Until he started telling me his questions I had not given much thought to our new assignment beyond what had been provided by the council. Now he had me wondering too. He was right. The more I thought about it the more questions that came to mind.

" What do we do then sir?" I asked. Although Mr. Blackbourne was the head of our team I was the team lead. I needed to be able to keep my brothers on task and if they started asking questions like this as well then I needed to be able to handle it, but how do I do that when I don't know the answers myself?

" Unfortunately there isn't much we can do but continue on with the assignment," My eyes followed him as he continued to pace, " and be very, very cautious. Something is off here but I can not figure out what it is. I have shared my concerns with Dr. Green as well," Well that was no big surprise, the two of them practically came as a pair, " Between the three of us perhaps we can figure out what is really going on here." He stopped pacing and speared me with a stern look," I hope Mr. Lee, that it goes without my saying that you should not share any of this with the others, and if they come to you with questions direct them to me. I do not want you boys distracted from our assignment."

Uh-oh. Before I could stop myself I flinched at his words. I had a feeling that might not be as easy as he thought. Mr. Blackbourne noticed and raised an eyebrow in question.

" I've been dreaming about her again sir, " I shifted nervously from foot to foot. For several years I have had dreams about the same girl, but the dreams were always vague and misty. The best I could do was remember the general feelings and impressions left by the dream but the one thing I knew with certainty from the start was that she was very important to us, my team...my family. I had similar dreams for over a year before Mr. Blackbourne had found North and Silas bringing them into our family and making us the largest team at the academy with nine members. Mr. Blackbourne had discovered early on