Suspended in nothingness, she travelled within her own mind until something alerted her to their presence. At first, she wondered if they were merely memories, until one of them turned and a familiar face looked her way. A sob of relief echoed in her mind. But was it only a dream?
The world was white, with the barest hint of blue. She hung, suspended at its centre, like an object in space. Oberon and his cronies were long gone, leaving her here. Or maybe they were still around, creating this place like a virtual world inside her head, making her believe she was really there. It felt real, but then Oberon had a habit of making real those things that weren't.
Terrible things- things that once lived only in her nightmares.
So she played games, building her own world inside her head, a place she could retreat to whenever the nightmares came. Her world was an ocean and on it lay a gleaming city, like a gem, with spires that touched the heart of the sky. People lived there, names and faces she'd known so long now, that her heart ached whenever she had to leave them, leave the city and go back to the Asuran world.
Sometimes she wondered if Atlantis was real, or just another dream. She usually followed up that piece of folly with a mental slap, reminding herself of the time when Atlantis she thought Atlantis imaginary, a time when someone had called her back to it, his shadow falling into every corner of the imaginary world the nanites had placed her in.
He had never given up on her back then, so she hung inside the white bubble, listening for his voice again, watching for his shadow.
Waiting.
And then something happened. She didn't hear, or see, or feel anything, but somehow she knew. He was here.
The voices came later, following the footsteps, hushed and low. She listened, straining with ears not her own to pick out the slightest sound. For the first time since she had awoken inside the white-blue light, she reached out, tapping into other eyes, turning them to find the source of the sounds intruding on her world.
That was where his shadow fell, cast by sunlight pouring in through windows so tall and wide they replaced the wall. It reminded her of Atlantis, the world within reflecting the one without. She followed the shadow to find him. He was older than she remembered, his eyes darker. She remembered his companions too. His team. His family.
He was their leader, their direction, their will. The woman, filled with a quiet peace, their conscience given form. And the scientist, the mind, walking with the warrior, their strength. She watched them move as one, and longed to leave the place where she hung, to join them. She wanted, so badly, for her place to be there.
But she had no idea if it was. She didn't know where she belonged anymore.
John.
His name was John.
The memories came thick and fast, bubbling to the surface of her mind. The Atlantis within became more solid, more real, as her memories poured into it.
The city.
It was almost sobbed aloud with relief. Her waiting had not been in vain. They had come. She drew in a mental breath, before sending a wave of communication along every network she could reach within the laboratory, hoping something, anything, would spark a signal.
I'm here, John, I'm here!