Chapter 1

Cobb was pleased. The festive season had come and gone without a hitch. James had been more than pleased with his presents and Cobb assumed that Phillipa was just happy to have some structure back in her life. But what made him the happiest was the sudden arrival of his Godson.

When Dom Cobb was exiled from the United States he only had two real connections to home, his father-in-law and his and Mal's friends from when they were at university.

When Cobb and his wife married, it was those friends who played the roles of best man and maid of honour; and the pair returned the favour; naming the Cobb's godparents to their first child; who they also named Dominic. While the couple stressed it was because they discovered the pregnancy while they were holidaying in the Dominican Republic, Cobb couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction whenever he saw the boy.

Dominic Archer was now in his early twenties and while Cobb was jet setting around the globe the two had become very close. Despite his father's pleading, Archer had gone to his godfather some years ago and asked to be taught the skill of extraction, something Cobb said said he couldn't do. Not just because it was against the wishes of a friend but also because it wasn't safe. Much to Cobb's annoyance however the boy wouldn't let up and so as an eighteenth birthday present, the elder gave the student the gift of creation. In that one day, Cobb taught him to build, to manipulate projections and finally; how to extract. The boy learnt fast, and while Cobb refused to take him on any jobs he continued to teach whenever he had a spare day. This led to Archer proudly proclaiming himself to be the first student of the Dom Cobb School of Extraction.

Today however, Cobb just watched as his protégée chased James around the garden, pretending to be the T-Rex to the boys Triceratops.

'Daddy?' Phillipa asked, tugging on her fathers shirt.

'Yes sweetie?' He replied, lifting her up into his arms as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

'Why do you call Dominic 'Archer' and not Dominic?'

'I don't know honey. Because Dominic is also daddy's name and I was here first.' He said with a smile. Almost sensing his cue, the younger Dom headed back towards the house, with James following him attentively.

'The boys a monster Uncle Dom!' He shouted from the lawn, laughing as he realised just how out of breath he really was. Jumping back into the house, James ran straight to his father and jumped up to be taken in his arms along with his sister, almost knocking the grown man back.

'You are getting heavy! Maybe less chocolate for you James.' The boy stuck his tongue out playfully as Archer wiped the sweat from his brow. 'There's some lemonade in the fridge if you guys want it.'

'No there isn't daddy,' Phillipa informed her father in a matter of fact tone that made her appear much more mature than she actually was, 'James drank it all.'

'Did not!'

'But there's more in the summer house.' She said, slipping out of Cobb's grasp and running back into the garden to get her prize.

'Hey!' James shouted as wriggled his way to freedom as well, chasing his sister desperately. Both Doms let out a sigh of relief as they sat down at the kitchen table.

'It's good to see you back in California, Uncle Dom. London didn't suit you.'

'Neither did Tokyo. Or Paris. Maybe I'm just more set to the west coast style of living.'

The next few hours were spent simply catching up. While the kids enjoyed the sunlight, Cobb went into detail on his experiences of inception.

'The hardest part is getting the idea to stick; to convince them that it's their idea.'

'You should write a paper on it, or teach others; you'd become rich in no time.'

'It's not that simple. The boundaries of extraction are on thing, the morality if clear cut; you're just stealing. But to plant a thought in someone's mind; to change who they are? That's on a whole other level. Besides,' He said, taking a breath, 'even with Mal gone, I'm still not sure it's safe for me to experiment any more.'

'Do you miss her?'

'Of course. And so do the kids. But I have to focus on them now.'

'Yeah, I understand.' The boy sat there nervously for a second, now unsure of whether or not to put his request forward. 'Uncle Dom, there's something I need to ask of you. I want extraction work but I don't know where to look.' The instant he said, Archer could see his godfathers face sink. To Cobb it felt as if every lesson he had tried to teach the kid had failed; that he still wanted the life Cobb had led.

'I'm not going to get you work. It's too dangerous, the lifestyle isn't all it's cracked up to be.'

'I know the risks; but I need the money to do my doctorate and it could take me years to raise that kind of cash; with a few extraction jobs, I could have the money in weeks.'

'No!' Cobb shouted, raising his voice really for the first time since he had been back. He didn't notice that the children were peering in through the windows. 'I will not let you fall into that world and I defiantly won't drag you into it myself. You are better than that.'

'But Dom-'

'I said no!' Dom stood up and braced himself against the table, breathing deeply as he tried to reassert his composure. 'How old are you?'

'Twenty three.'

'I'm at least ninety five. Did you know that? I may not look it, but with the amount of time I have spent in the dream world I have lived my life once already. And it has brought nothing but grief. Just think about that, OK?'

'Yeah. OK.'

Looking out the window, Cobb could see both Phillipa and James staring in at him and felt a twinge of guilt that he had let them see his out burst, but before he could react, Archer's phone started to go.

'Hello?'

'Guys, come here!' Cobb beckoned to his children as Archer stood up and left the room for some privacy.

'What's the dream world?' James asked with the curiosity all young children have.

'Where you go when you sleep, stupid. It's where the boogeyman lives. And the monsters!'

'Don't be silly Phillipa.' Dom reassured, 'there is no such thing as monsters.'

'What kind of accident?' They could hear from the other room, which grabbed all of their attention.

'Stay here.' The ex-extractor said, patting his kids on the shoulder before going to the lounge door way and looking in on his friends state.

'OK. Thank you.' The younger Dom said, hanging up and falling down onto the sofa, not able to hold up his weight. Cobb could see the tears welling up in his eyes as he walked in.

'You alright?'

'It's...a friend of mine. She was in an accident and...she's in hospital. They're not sure if she'll make it through the night.'

'Where is she? In London?'

'Yeah.' Dom's head fell into his hands as he began to let the emotion out. 'This is really not my day is it?' Cobb walked over and the two embraced.

'It's OK. Did you move out of your flat there already?'

'Yeah. And all my friends have left as well.'

'I'll give Miles a call. He has a small house in London and he can put you up if you want to go back.'

'I think I have too.'

The next day, the whole Cobb family took their friend to the airport to see him off. He gave them all a hug and promised that he'd come back soon.

'Give this to granddad too!' James said, giving him a picture he had drawn. It showed the three members of the Cobb family, his grandma and granddad, Dom and a T-Rex eating his sister's room. On top of that, Daddy Cobb as he now liked to be called, gave him a small box which came with explicit instructions of 'do not open this until you are completely alone and most importantly of all show it to no one.'

The plane ride was long and uneventful. Every time he tried to catch a moments sleep, Dom's mind would race between his friend or the excitement of living in a dream. He remembered the ecstasy of realising for the first time that he was asleep in the real world and the few days he spent there with Cobb and his partner Arthur as they taught him how to use weapons but also worked on different dream tactics for their own use.

'Why don't you convince the mark that he's in a dream?' Archer had once said, 'If you can make him believe he's dreaming and that you are his subconscious; there to protect him, he'd do anything you say.' Arthur had laughed and smacked Cobb on the shoulder.

'Apple never falls far from the tree Cobb.' Archer wondered how Arthur was doing.

Landing in Heathrow, Archer breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Miles standing amongst the mob of the welcome party. The pair shook hands and quickly made their way out.

'I'm sorry that your visit has to be on such bad terms young Master Archer.' Miles has said, 'But you are welcome to stay as long as you like.

'Thank you. Believe me,it's much appreciated.'

'Do you want a tour of the city quickly? Or do you just want to retire for the night?'

'I actually studied here for my degree, so I know London itself pretty well.'

'Oh of course. I'm getting forgetful in my old age.'

On the way back to Miles house in Islington they discussed how Dom's parents were getting on, to which he replied they were fine, but finding adjusting to the German climate a little difficult; how the Cobb household was doing and then for a long time on Miles own theories of the dream world; which Dom found fascinating.

'The problem is the people who first experimented with dream sharing were fantastically short sighted. First they used it to train military personnel and then to steal secrets; but it has endless uses! It could be used to determine whether or not a criminal is guilty or not of a crime; making courts infinity more effective. It could be used on a psychiatric ward to help patients with extreme personality disorders. In fact there's a Estonian professor, Pearu Unga, who specialises in the medical applications of the dream world but... nobody listens.' Miles said with more than a hint of frustration. 'The more you think about it, the more uses there are. Instead, Hollywood producers use the biggest scientific breakthrough in the history of humanity to find out of an actor is just trying to get more money.'

'They do that?'

'Oh yes.' Dom was as intrigued as he was shocked. Perhaps there was some work for him in California after all.

After giving Miles the picture from James, Archer decided it might be best to give Cobb a call just to has that he landed safely.

'Hello?' Came the voice from the end of the line.

'James? Why aren't you in bed? What time is it there?'

'Nine o'clock. Daddy said I could stay up late because it's a Saturday!'

'Lucky you! Can I speak to your daddy quickly?'

'Daddddddddy! It's Dom!' The line went quiet for a second before he heard what sounded like 'Why aren't you in bed young man?' and then Cobb picked up the phone.

'Hey Archer. How was your journey?'

'It was good. Just wanted to let you know I got here OK.'

'Good. If you need anything; let Miles know; and give me a call when you know what you're doing.'

Even though it was at least four in the morning by the time he had got to bed, he couldn't sleep. It wouldn't be long until the sun was up, the new day would start and he would have to face the music at the hospital which was something he wasn't looking forward too. After dozing off sometime after the light shone through his blinds, Archer awoke to the sound of his mobile phone buzzing.

'Hello?' He said, wearily, with his eyes still closed.

'Archer you wanker? It's Rees.'

'Oh. Hey man.' Dom said, rubbing his eyes as he sat up. This had grabbed his attention.

'I'm guessing you heard what happened to Felicity?'

'Yeah. I flew back to London last night, I was going to pay her a visit.'

'Me too. Shall we meet up before hand, grab a bite to eat and go together? Not sure I can stomach it on my own.'

Archer felt a twinge of nerves before seeing his old friend. The two hadn't parted on good terms after being lost in a world of Rees' creation for two months. When the pair had got into the experimentation of different chemical formulas and different methods of creation, they hadn't reckoned on the risk of being stuck for more permanent periods of time. They were stuck with no way to get out and no knowledge of the possible effects of death. Instead, they waited for the kick. Once they were back in reality and had spent ten minutes checking their individual tokens it was agreed that they should go their separate ways. And so it had remained, until this moment. It appeared that Rees had recently developed a taste of sushi, something Archer wasn't so keen on but he agreed still to meet him at a small Japanese restaurant in the centre of London.

'So how have you been?' The Brit asked the American as he shovelled raw salmon into his mouth.

'Not bad. Spent some time with my Uncle Dom in California.'

'How is the Sensi?'

'Better. How about you? What have you been up to?'

'I've been trying to get some money up together to do finally do my masters.'

'Wow. You have a legitimate job?'

'Kind of. I design battle simulations for the MOD.'

Dom was taken aback. To be working for the government almost seemed like a betrayal of everything they had worked towards and Rees could see it in his face.

'The resources they have are amazing. They have some chemicals like you wouldn't believe. I've been able to create things...man, I can't describe it. I'll have to show you.'

'I'd be interested to see.' The pair left and headed for the hospital; both of them with a sinking feeling in their stomachs.

The building stank of ammonia, old people and piss. The walls were the inoffensive blue that makes every healthy person glad they're only there for the visit and the nurses showed a feeling of monotony that suggested that nothing could surprise them any more. The pair stepped into the elevator with the most attractive nurse in the building, somewhat diverting both of their attention from the solemn duty at hand. Stepping out into the long corridor, Archer could here the echo of his footsteps bouncing continuously until they reached room 35C. They braced each other, looking slowly in each others eyes and taking a deep breath in; as they opened the door.