Marek was floating peacefully in darkness. It was like he was lying on top of a river, just letting it carry him along wherever it wanted to take him. Then, as if he had opened his eyes, he saw light. He didn't so much move towards it as it came towards him. This sensation of simply being pulled along kept washing over his body.
As he entered the light, he realized he was no longer alone. There was someone here with him. He lifted his hand lazily to reach out and touch the person beside him. And as he did so, he found his hand touching bare skin. He was not surprised, nor did he react in any way. Somehow this was as natural as his own name. Then he felt a hand—a soft hand—reach across his body and cradle his face. The other body came into contact with his and he realized he was naked and vulnerable too. Yet again he was not shocked. He felt safe.
That was when he realized that the person beside him was a woman. She lovingly caressed his cheek and he knew this was no stranger. This was his soul-mate. He hugged her to him and cradled her head, finding his hand enveloped by long red hair. This was his beloved. He was content to just lie there beside her, floating along for eternity. He knew this was not the first or last time they had met here, in dreams. And as soon as he realized he was dreaming, he awoke to be confronted by another overwhelming wave of loneliness.
Marek looked out the window of the airplane at the world flying by. He could not go back to sleep, nor could he shake off the impression that his dream had been real. He tried to distract himself by thinking about everything else. The last 48 hours had been a whirlwind. There had been a cave-in at the monastery where they had discovered a cavern that had contained a mystery. No one had entered that cavern for over 600 years, yet somehow they had found a lense from one of Professor Johnston's bifocals and a manuscript with his handwriting asking for help. Marek had been terrified that the site had been compromised and all of their work would have been for naught, as the site would have been closed down forever. But Josh Stern, the technical expert, had done extensive testing and the carbon dating had proven that these were genuine artifacts, despite their incongruity.
No matter how much he thought on this, it just didn't make any sense. And then there had been the second mystery of the missing Professor. Edward had gone to talk to ITC a few days ago to raise some concerns he had about the dig. There had been plenty of pressure from them to "hurry up" and get the site renovated. They had no idea how long that sort of thing took. But when they tried to get in touch with the Professor to make sure he was okay, he was nowhere to be found. Chris had been frantic to reach his dad and he had been the one that had given Doniger the ultimatum: give us the Professor or we go to the authorities.
Doniger had immediately snapped into action and now Chris, Kate, Marek, Josh and Francois Dontelle, a French grad student specializing in French medieval history, were on a jet whisking across the Atlantic to New Mexico. They had yet to receive an explanation, but they were assured that they would receive one. Marek rubbed his lower lip in thought. He was the only one at the moment that wasn't listening to the Old English and Middle French tapes that Stephen Kramer, vice president of ITC, had given them to listen to without any explanation other than they would find them relaxing on the long flight. Marek turned and looked at the others who were fast asleep thanks to the pills Kramer had given them.
ITC was too efficient, too controlling. Marek didn't trust them. He knew something really screwy was going on here. Perhaps they had kidnapped or killed Professor Johnston and they were all in for the same fate. Despite the fact that they couldn't get any answers out of them, they had all blindly agreed to do everything that ITC had requested. And yet, Marek felt like a traitor. He knew he should be apprehensive, possibly pissed and ready for a fight, but he couldn't feel any of these things for very long. He felt excited for no reason he could give. He knew something incredibly fishy was going on, but he was as jazzed as a little kid on Christmas Eve. He knew that something was going to happen that would change his life forever. He couldn't explain it, but he was more than willing to face whatever came their way. He was ready to face his destiny.
Disclaimer: these characters are not my own. I borrowed them from Michael Crichton. Any dialogue is taken directly from the movie version.