Jak found himself standing alone in the main room of Freedom Headquarters. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew that he must have been summoned for another important mission. However he seemed to be the only person there. He had never seen the place so empty before; neither Ashelin nor Torn were here as they usually were, working hard at the computers or waiting to brief him, nor Samos, and even Daxter was missing from his usual place on his shoulder. Where were they all? He settled to wait around for a moment, pacing up and down the room, rationalising that someone would turn up soon and give him instruction.

Suddenly, a warning alarm sounded. Jak's attention was drawn to the main computer terminal, and he headed to it to find out what was wrong. His immediate thought was that perhaps the city was under attack again, but he felt sure, somehow, that that was not the case at the moment. The computers did not confirm one way or the other, because no matter how hard he tried, he could make no sense of what was being displayed on the screens; the graphs and charts were like nothing he had ever seen before, and the words were out of focus and kept shifting shape, impossible to read. Urgently, he tried pressing some buttons, but they seemed to have no effect whatsoever, or those that did only brought up more alien menus and images that he could not understand.

He was becoming ever more confused as he struggled with the machinery, and frustrated with himself for not being able to comprehend it. What was wrong with him? Why could he just not grasp what was happening here? And where was everybody else? Why was there nobody present to help him with this? Where were Ashelin and Torn, who always knew what to do?

Something about this did not feel right at all, and the more he thought about it, the stranger his whole situation started to seem. Come to think of it, he now noticed that there were several things about the computer terminal and the room itself that did not look as they should. The only explanation he could come up with was that they must have updated the entire computer system while he had been stranded on that island. Yes, that must be why he was having so much difficulty using it and why it seemed so unfamiliar.

Hang on... the island.

He was suddenly halted by the inconsistency of his thoughts, and something inside his head seemed to click: he could not remember ever leaving that island... and yet here he was, back home in Haven City. Therefore he must have got off it somehow, and he had a vague recollection of being rescued, but somehow he did not feel as if it had actually happened, like it had been a dream.

Just a minute... a dream?

The realisation hit him with all the force of a charging yakow, and something inside him leapt, like a jolt through his whole body. A great fog felt like it lifted from his mind, like he was now fully awake and could think much more clearly. He looked around the room with refreshed consciousness, and everything seemed to shimmer, as if there were a thin film of water over his eyes. Then he looked at his hands, which appeared to be pulsing in strange colours, as if he were channelling eco. And then he finally understood why everything around him seemed so strange.

"The island wasn't a dream," he said aloud. "This is!"

Suddenly, Vin's virtual head flicked up on the central terminal. "That's right, baby!" it said, and then it was gone again.

Hot excitement shot through him, a euphoric feeling of discovery. A hundred new thoughts and emotions were tearing through his mind like a Vulcan barrel on overdrive, so many that it was impossible to digest them all at once. It was overwhelming, something he had never experienced before nor even thought possible, and it brought him to a total standstill for a moment, before one clear imperative broke through all the rest: I'm dreaming! And I'm back in the city! I've got to tell someone!

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, he was racing straight to the doors as fast as he could, so quickly it was as if he had taken just a single bound, and they burst open for him. But instead of emerging into the lift shaft as usual, he immediately appeared outside. This unexpected non-linearity caused him to pause in surprise and look around, but he recognised where he now was.

He was standing at the foot of one of the docking towers out in the port. It loomed over him as if it had been stretched to many times its real height, and the other buildings surrounding the port seemed further away than usual and were dancing in and out of focus, as if observing them through a heat haze. The sky was a uniform, featureless white, and the water a similarly motionless blue-grey, but there was still nobody to be seen anywhere; the roads were deserted and silent. Even the drop ship that would take him to the Wasteland and should always be parked nearby was missing.

"Hey!" he shouted out with mad excitement, not sure what was going to happen. "Where is everyone?"

All of a sudden, the drop ship was there again, seemingly materialised from nowhere when he had looked the other way. With a hiss, he watched as the back hatch lowered, and out of it stepped the one person he had been longing to see for so long: Keira. Maybe it was because of his accelerated emotions, or the unstable visual effect of the dream, but he thought she looked more beautiful than he had ever known her to be, so much so that it barely resembled her real self, but it was unquestionably her. He just knew.

He called out to her, then she saw him too and froze on the spot, and her perfect face mirrored the expression that he felt his making too. Without saying another word, they ran to each other and collided into the best hug he had ever experienced, real or imaginary. Jak was so happy, and he felt Keira press herself into him with remarkable realism, her hair tickling his face, making him smile even more. There was so much he wanted to say and do now they were back together again, and it felt like all of the world's problems had been solved. Having her so close to him just felt so perfect, his emotions were racing in this transcendentally beautiful moment.

"It's so good to see you again, Keira. I've missed you," he said honestly, squeezing harder.

Keira said nothing back, but she continued clinging to him tightly. But when he glanced up again from the top of her head just briefly, he suddenly noticed that the surroundings had become darker and much fuzzier, as if existence itself were closing in around them. The sense of urgency he had felt earlier resurfaced, and he rushed to tell Keira at once what he had discovered, and momentarily forgotten in his euphoria.

He broke up the hug with some difficulty — it was as if they had got stuck together somehow and almost merged into one — but he plunged on with his intention. "Keira," he said bravely with a gulp, fixedly staring right into her unnaturally vibrant green eyes. "Listen carefully. I know this is going to sound crazy, but... I think we're dreaming right now!"

He paused to see how she would react, but she still did not speak. Her face was shimmering and shifting before his eyes along with the rest of the dream world. Everything was deteriorating now; Jak felt like an intruder in a world that did not want him, he could feel himself starting to wake up, and knew he was running out of time, but he tried to hold on to Keira by the shoulders in the hope that it would keep him rooted to the scene.

"This is all really weird, but you've got to believe me," Jak continued, and then he poured out his re-emerging memories of his plight. He had to tell Keira where he really was so she could find him. "Listen, I'm still alive. I'm stuck on an island somewhere with Ashelin, Torn, and a Freedom soldier called Olto. We've been here ever since the battle. You need to tell everyone back in the city that we're alive and we need rescuing and — "

He stopped mid-sentence, for Keira suddenly looked terrified and was trying to step backwards.

"Keira, wait! What are you doing?" said Jak desperately, tightening his hold on her, but she struggled silently against his grip. She was trying to get away, not to find help, but as if she wanted nothing more to do with him and just wanted to go on her way uncaringly.

Jak felt abandoned. "What are you doing? Just listen to me!" he cried. He became forceful out of frustration, but she continued to resist. Jak could not understand why she was suddenly behaving like this when he had so many important things to tell her, when he needed her to help him.

But now the darkness descended upon them both, things were fading away into a smear of formless black, and Keira was all he could make out now. He was losing control of his own body and senses, and his arms no longer felt where they should be. He tried shouting at her but his voice cut out on him, he could not breathe, and then he yanked on her as hard as he could in a desperate attempt to keep her with him.

With a gasp and a lurch that he felt through his whole body, his eyes split open and everything was gone. He was now lying flat on his back, looking up at a dark, familiar roof of interwoven leaves, branches and pieces of metal. He was back on the island inside the shelter.

"Whoa," he whispered to himself. He sat up and wiped a hand across his forehead, which was damp with hot sweat, and he found himself panting with exertion; it felt like he had just travelled a great distance in a very short time. Powerful emotions were still pounding through his body, and he took a moment to try and understand what had just happened to him.

Had it all been real? Had he somehow just met up with Keira in a dream? It had been so wonderful to be with her again, just to hold her and speak to her, but there was also that sense of anger and confusion of how she had acted. Now that he was awake, those feelings were slowly fading away, gradually replaced by growing sadness and the feeling of loss, like he'd missed an important chance to do something. He had just held her in his arms, hugged her so close and lovingly, really believed that it had been real, but then she had disappeared into thin air, and now he held only handfuls of grass. He felt painfully crushed that such a pleasurable moment had ended so suddenly, and held his head in his hands.

But then he remembered the things he had managed to say to her, and felt a new pang of hope. He had tried to tell her that he was still alive and marooned on this island, and that he needed to be rescued. Had he succeeded in getting the message across to her? Was she awake at this very moment too, thinking and feeling the very same things that he was right now, and rushing to pass on his message to everyone else in the city? Would a rescue soon come for them because of this? How he wished he could know.

But the more he sat there and pondered it, no matter how much he wished it to be true, the more unlikely it seemed. His fantastic thoughts were fading, replaced by wakeful rationality. It couldn't possibly have been the real Keira. How could they meet up in a dream? It was impossible... wasn't it? Who was he know how dreams worked?

Looking around the inside of the shelter, he saw the shapes of his sleeping companions beside him. Should he wake them? There was Torn, buried in the grass, and Olto on the other side of him… but where was Ashelin? The seat in which she usually slept was empty, and Jak suddenly found himself preoccupied with this new curiosity. Where was she? Now too wide awake to ever return to sleep, he decided to get up and look for her, crawling outside into the deep night.

A calm breath of cool air met his face as he emerged through the leaf curtain and stood up in the middle of the camp. The night was still, the sea calm and flat, and the few clouds that were visible were wispy thin, painted across an endless sky of stars that sparkled in their distant beauty, luminous clusters and a great galactic band soaring across space. The green sun hung like a great nightlight, and bathed the beach in a mysterious, warm glow. It was a mesmerising sight. But not too far away there was a recognisable figure sitting on the sand and looking up at it all. It was Ashelin.

He walked out to her and stopped by her side, and she looked back up at him.

"Hey," she said quietly. "Can't sleep either?"

"No," he replied simply to her question. She was completely oblivious to what he had just been through, he thought, and he was bursting to tell her all about it, but how on earth would he start? Expressing his inner feelings and experiences was something he had never really been very good at; he was a man of actions rather than words. But would she take it seriously? He doubted she would; Ashelin was the kind of person who always seemed to have her head grounded firmly in the real world. Would she believe him? Would she even be interested in this sort of thing?

Ashelin did not ask anything further, however. Instead she directed her gaze back into the enigmatic sky, a soft and placid smile visible on her face. "This is really something, isn't it?" she said serenely.

"What?" said Jak, momentarily confused, but then he realised that she was talking about the wondrous sight above them. "Oh... yeah, it is," he agreed.

He looked up again. Night skies such as this were nothing particularly special for him; he had seen many throughout his childhood and on his journeys in the Wasteland, in places and times far from polluting city light, but it added to the mysterious atmosphere and feelings of the present night.

Ashelin lay back a little further, supporting herself on her elbows, and seemingly lost in a state of mild and peaceful wonder. "I'm going to miss this when we get back home, you know."

"Really?" said Jak.

"Yeah. I never thought I'd actually say this, but I think this island's finally starting to feel... nice."

Jak thought about this, momentarily distracted from the confusion of his dream. He had not expected to hear Ashelin say such a thing, because after Torn, she had been the one of them most set on getting home. But now that he thought about it, he could see what she meant. They had been through many physical and emotional trials here on the island, and it felt like most of their time had been spent either wallowing in helplessness, fighting illness or injury, or labouring very hard just to survive, and getting nowhere because of it. Every moment had offered some form of a struggle, and there had been precious few times when they had all truly enjoyed themselves or felt satisfied with their efforts. But now, in this night's deepest hour, the positive aspects of the island were finally starting to become apparent, and no longer did it seem so unbearable to be stuck here.

"It sure is peaceful here," Jak said in agreement. "But we can't stay here forever."

"Yeah, I know," said Ashelin wistfully. "We've got to get back home eventually. I want to know what's happening back there."

"Me too," said Jak, and he especially meant it. His dream experience had left him with an even stronger desire to get back now, to see Keira again, and to confirm with her if their special shared experience had really happened. He had to tell someone about it now, he could not suppress the mystery any longer.

He lowered himself down on the sand beside his red-headed companion. "Hey Ashelin..." he began, thinking of the best possible way he could put his experience into words.

"Hmm?"

"I had a really weird dream just now..."

"A dream?"

He told her everything he could remember in as much detail as he could, and Ashelin listened, though she did not look as if she fully understood it all.

"Wait. So you mean you actually knew you were dreaming while it was happening?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jak explained. "It just hit me all of a sudden, and I just knew."

Ashelin looked impressed. "Wow," she said, finding nothing else appropriate to say. "I didn't know that could be done. Sounds pretty cool."

"It was pretty amazing," said Jak reminiscently, remembering the exhilarating feelings. "Has that ever happened to you before?"

Ashelin rolled her eyes doubtfully. "Don't think so. I never remember my dreams."

"But what do you think it means?" Jak persisted with her.

Ashelin shrugged cluelessly. "Hell if I know. You're asking the wrong person here, Jak."

Jak sighed. This was proving just as unsuccessful as he had predicted; Ashelin was not much help at all with trying to understand this, but at least she had listened to him. If there was anyone he really wanted to tell about it though, it was Keira, because she had been in it after all, and was a lot more open-minded. But of course, the two of them were separated by miles of ocean right now, more distant from each other than they had ever been in their lives, but after this dream, he felt somehow spiritually closer to her.

"When I found Keira," he went on wistfully, looking up into the starfields, "I was just so happy to see her again." He smiled pleasantly at the memory of their wonderful embrace. "But then it all sort of faded out on us. I tried to keep a hold of her and tell her where we all were so she could find us, but then I woke up. I wonder if it worked..."

Ashelin raised an eyebrow quizzically. "So… what, you actually tried to pass on a message to her in the dream?"

"Yeah," said Jak. "I know it sounds crazy, but in the heat of the moment I just really felt it might work. Tell her we're still alive, and maybe she could tell everyone back in the city."

Ashelin looked at him as if he had just said something utterly incomprehensible. "But Jak... dreams aren't real," she said carefully and gently. "You can't meet up with other people in them. There's no possible way that could work. It's all just in your head, isn't it?"

"I know that," said Jak almost instantly. "I'm just telling you what happened. Keira just seemed so realistic... and I just got a really strong feeling that... I can't describe it. You had to be there to see it."

An intermediate silence fell between them again, and Ashelin was not sure what to make of this very strange story. This was all starting to sound rather supernatural to her, totally implausible. However, she could detect the sincere emotion in Jak's words, she knew he would never just make up something like this — that wasn't like him — and a small part of herself even wished that it might just end up, somehow, bringing them home more quickly. Was there any harm in that?

"Well, OK Jak," she said acceptingly after a little while. "I don't know what happened to you or what it means, but to be realistic, I think we still stand a better chance of getting home with the boat."

Jak sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Got to focus on the real world. Still... it's made me think." He sighed again, and a forlorn look drifted into his eyes, which he cast out to sea. "I hope Keira's OK."

"You miss her, don't you?" said Ashelin sympathetically.

Jak nodded sadly, and then lowered his head. "I really wish I could see her again now."

Ashelin put an arm around him and pulled him closer in understanding comfort. "You will, Jak. We'll get back there. I know it."

This was the best she could probably manage to say; she felt uncertain saying anything too personal about Keira, because apart from their few, brief conversations, they barely knew each other. But Jak appreciated the close touch of support, and rested his head onto Ashelin's shoulder. It was nice to have someone close at least, even if it wasn't Keira.

They sat together for a little while longer, just watching the stars turn and taking in the feeling of each other's close company in the night.

"How've you and Olto got on with that Precursor thing at the hill, by the way?" Ashelin then asked. "You got any further with working out what it is yet?"

"No," said Jak, brightening a little at the change of topic. He had been pondering it unsuccessfully ever since they had started excavating it a few days ago, in between working on the new raft, and it was something he really wanted to try and solve and understand before leaving this island, and he had not given up yet.

"Shall we head over there?" suggested Ashelin. "I don't think I've had a proper look at it yet."

"Sure," said Jak. This was just what he needed to get his mind off of his sense of loss.

The two of them helped each other up, and together, they headed back towards the camp. They passed their new half-finished raft lying at the threshold of the trees, and crept quietly through the camp so as not to wake Torn or Olto, and then into the shadows of the forest.