Chapter One: Extra Credit

"The date is Friday, the eleventh of November. The year is two thousand and sixteen. We are at Malcolm University, specifically the science laboratory, in Indianapolis, Indiana. The test subjects will now state their names."

The elderly man who had been speaking looked at the four girls sitting in front of him and gestured toward the microphone. The girls hurriedly shared a quick glance, and the one on the end leaned forward and spoke.

"Barbara Fultz," she stated in a clear voice.

"Yuki Fredrick," said the one sitting next to her.

"Kath McConnell."

"Melany Hugh."

"Good, thank you ladies," the old man said, after he turned off the recording device. "Just wanted to get that out of the way before I forgot. Now, let me explain why you're here."

"For extra credit, right?" Barbara asked.

"You are correct," he said. "I had meant the specifics, but that reminds me –" he opened the drawer to his left and pulled out four red slips of paper. "You need a little something for the professor, I suppose. This is for…Chemistry one-oh-one, correct?"

The four girls nodded. As he was writing it down slowly on each slip, he asked:

"So what made you four want to give up a Friday night for some extra credit?"

His brown eyes looked up from the paper and settled on Kath first. He watched her carefully as she spoke.

"I'm failing Chemistry and I only have two more semesters left," said Kath. "I don't want to be delayed by a gen ed that's not even part of my major, so it's worth it to sacrifice one Friday." Avoiding his gaze, she brushed loose strands of blonde away from her face and looked down.

Barbara jumped in: "I'm failing Chemistry too!" She almost made it sound positive. "And, yeah, I just want to get this class finished. I'm not about to retake it, so I'm not about to fail out of it." She took the round sunglasses off the top of her head and hung them on the front of her shirt. Her dark arms were bare, despite the chilly interior of the science lab and the cold November weather in general.

"Science isn't your bag, huh?" said the old man with a something that was a cross between a smile and a grimace.

Yuki raised her hand hesitantly. "I'm also failing Chemistry." She pushed her cat-eye glasses up the bridge of her nose. "And I'm sorry, I think I've forgotten your name, Professor…?"

"Darling."

"Right," she nodded. "Professor Darling. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. We can all really use it. I know Melany and I have another really tough class together, and it just seems like Chemistry is the one that gets neglected when we study. Right, Mel?" She looked kindly at the quiet girl next to her.

"Yeah," Melany said flatly. "I'm failing, too."

Professor Darling chuckled. "Well, it's a good thing that the extra credit opportunity really has nothing to do with Chemistry then. I put out the call for some test subjects for a little experiment I'm working on, but I suppose it takes failing a class for four college students to spend seven hours of their Friday trying to fall asleep in the science lab."

The girls, unsure of what he meant, looked a bit confused.

"Young ladies, please follow me to the testing room and I'll explain what it is you're going to be doing."

They stepped out of the office and followed the professor to a room down the hall. He opened the door and ushered them inside.

What they saw can be described most accurately as a variation of a CAT scanner, except it was much larger, and could easily fit four people side by side instead of only one. Next to it, attached by cords and wires, was a large monitor and keyboard on a stand with a chair next by, presumably for Professor Darling to sit on while he ran the machine.

"It's my pride and joy, my Dream Reader," he said, looking almost lovingly at the machine. "I'm fortunate enough to be funded by the University for my research on this project, and I must say, it's coming along very well. I've been able to pick up new images of brain activity while the subjects are asleep, and I'm well on my way to being able to, in a sense, record dreams. I need you four for another set of tests, so try your best to dream something exciting as you fall asleep this evening."

The girls ooh-ed and ahh-ed, duly impressed.

"How long have you been working on this?" Barbara asked, walking around the machine to get a closer look.

"Twenty-five years," he said. "They wanted me to retire ten years ago, but at that point I thought I was nearing a breakthrough. And here we are now."

"Still nearing a breakthrough?"

"All times are near, if you round up enough," he replied. "Oh, I forgot my laptop. You girls your bags in the corner over there and try to make yourselves as sleepy as possible," he winked. "I'll be right back."

He left, and as soon as the doors shut, Kath said: "He makes me a little uncomfortable, I'm gonna be honest."

"Same," Barbara said, coming back around the side of the machine. "Dream reader? Seriously? This guy is as crazy as everyone says."

"Crazy?" Melany asked, dark eyes focusing on Barbara. "Do people say he's crazy?"

Yuki nodded sadly. "He's a nice man, though. It's unfortunate what people say about him."

"I don't know, I think the rumors are pretty well-deserved…how old is he? Late seventies? Like, retire already dude!" Barbara said, throwing her purse into the corner.

The rest of the girls did the same with their bags.

"He must not be…all there, you know?" Yuki sat down on the end of the machine.

"Maybe not. Whatever though, I'm still thankful for the ridiculous amount of extra credit I'll get for this. It'll probably save my grade."

"The wonderful college system: where we can pass another class by falling asleep for seven hours on a Friday night." Melany did the sign of the cross. "God bless America."

The rest of the girls agreed.

Professor Darling opened the door and stepped inside, holding his computer. "Ready girls?"

He explained to them that they should leave electronics out of the machine, and lay down as close together as possible so all would fit without falling off the edge. He said only their heads and shoulders would be inside the circular tube part of the machine, and he would turn off the lights once it was up an running to make it easier for them to sleep.

"Goodnight," Barbara whispered with a giggle as they all lay down beside each other.

With a soft whir, the machine kicked into gear. They couldn't see anything moving around and when Professor Darling shut off the lights and began tapping away at the control keyboard in the darkness, they closed their eyes.

For the next fifteen minutes, they tried their best to get comfortable. Professor Darling's typing eventually stopped. The whirring of the machine was soothing white noise. They heard a soft chuckle. And then –

The sound of waves crashing onto the shore.


Coming up: a group of Monkees make an interesting beach discovery.