Wake Me Up
The rain finally let up. Cobb had called them into a meeting that morning at Saito's office buildings. Arthur was grateful that he still had his Japanese drivers licenses that enabled him to take himself, Ariadne, Eames and Sybil there without resorting to ghastly public transportation. Saito's office was still the lovely modern building. Simple and elegant. When the four of them arrived at their normal conference room, Ariadne saw Hecate. She tried to turn around but Cobb's voice stopped her.
"I know I should have said something." He said. "I should have said something a long time ago. But we need to work together right now."
"We have new information about Yuseff's kidnappers." Hecate told them. Eames grumbled.
"I'll bet you do." The Forger said taking a seat at the large conference table. Ariadne looked at Arthur who nodded to a chair. He had been Cobb's friend for to long. He had stood by Cobb's side when the Extractor lost his wife, had to leave his Children, and was haunted by his wife's memory. How could he abandon him now? Ariadne, (for Arthur's sake) took a seat next to the Forger. Arthur sat down and finally Sybil slumped in a chair.
"A man name Priam Edwards* is the CEO of a technology company in the States. They have bought parts of COBAL as well as Fischer/Marrow." Hecate said. "One of the parts they bought from COBAL was dream extraction. For the past six months, they have been assimilating information as well as extractors."
"They want to do the same thing as COBAL." Cobb finished. "Use extraction and inception to influence anything from the stock market, to war."
"Dream extraction really is Pandora's box eh?" Came a familiar voice. The Team turned around to see Braker and the rest of the Australian Extraction Team arriving.
"Braker!" Ariadne said standing up. A smile on her face for the first time that day.
"Hello Gorgeous." The Australian Forger smiled as he gave the Architect a big hug in reunion. Arthur scowled. Ariadne and Braker had been kidnapped by COBAL almost two years ago. He had helped her realize that Cobb and the rest of her team were coming for them, thus helping them both escape. She had been close to him ever since. When the Australian Team was ambushed and gassed on a plane to Tokyo last year, the fear their minds were lost was a very real thing. Yori had used all her talents to bring them all back. It had taken a long time, but Yori's gift of bringing lost minds back from the dream world was something the Team could never repay her for, and never do without.
"Braker, this is Hecate." Ariadne said before leaning into the Australian Forger and whispering something. Braker nodded.
"We know all about her, Beautiful." He told her. "We met her a few months ago on a job Cobb took us on." Ariadne looked stunned.
"What?" She asked backing away.
"She has a compound that will make us impervious to Limbo." Braker told her.
"What do you mean?" Sybil asked looking at Hecate.
"He means, that if you drop into limbo, you can stay there for 50 years and it wont become your reality." Hecate said
"How?" Eames asked
"COBAL's research. The PASIV compound makes the dream world very sharp and real. It also makes limbo very real to. With my compound, if you wind up in Limbo, you wake up and forget it just like a normal dream."
"We have to remember our dream extractions." Eames told the Chemist in a catty tone. "The compounds we used help us to remember them. If we forgot them like a normal dream, extraction would be useless."
"Yes, and it also has the benefit of confusing your reality." Hecate said evenly. She cast a sorrowful look at Cobb. "Especially Limbo."
"We will still remember our extractions, our planned dreams, just not the dream space of Limbo." Cobb told them.
"How do you know this will work?" Ariadne asked.
"Hecate specialized in Limbo." Sybil said sadly looking at her own hands.
"We've tested it." Braker said. "We used a sedative like for the Fischer job, then dropped into Limbo." The Australian Forger sat down next to his Team Mates and sighed. "I remember very little of it."
"What about the top levels?" Eames asked intrigued.
"Clear as a bell." The Australian Chemist added. "Only Limbo felt like an old fashioned dream."
"We can use this new Compound on Edwards." Cobb added. "We will use it on Edwards."
"How did you perfect this compound?" Sybil asked in a snotty voice, seeming to already know the answer.
"While I was at COBAL. But they don't have may research. I took it with me." Hecate said swiftly
"Not what I asked." Sybil said. Her voice was cold and she meet Hecate in the eye. "How did you perfect the compound? What kinds of tests did you use?" Hecate sighed.
"We tested the compound on a few extractors... and Sybil." The room grew silent. Hecate shrugged. "Her Father gave us permission. She had a natural gift for the dream world. We think the younger you are, the easier it is." Ariadne stood up.
"Goodbye." She said taking Sybil's hand. The two of them left the extractors to their new chemist. Arthur looked at them leaving and did not follow.
"Tell me about it." the Architect said. They were in a crowded market place. A light rain was dusting lazily over the shoppers who carried umbrella's. Sybil and Ariadne walked unprotected against the threat of a downpour. Sybil sighed and pretended to be interested in the tourist trap of light up toys.
"At first it was only dreams with the PASIV. Then they took me deeper. Then... I lost myself." She admitted sadly.
"How old were you?" The Architect asked.
"Twelve." Sybil said casually. "After I came back from that, I had enough." She told her "I stole money and the PASIV-4 documents from my Dad, came looking for Cobb and his Team."
"How long were you in Limbo?" Ariadne asked.
"A long time." Sybil said looking strait ahead. Not meeting Ariadne's eyes. The Architect noticed that the Girl had grown taller then her and had to smile despite the grave conversation. "Long enough have lived a lifetime down there. Then pulled back into the real world. Thrown back into the body... of a girl." Sybil shook her head.
Ariadne didn't know how to provide comfort. Cobb had been lost in Limbo for fifty years and it haunted him still. He sometimes had the look of a man who had lived for a long time. To long. Saito was also prone to the same look after the Fischer job. Their time in Limbo had greatly effected them. They were grown men, how must it have affected a girl not even in her teens? Sybil had always seemed older then her age. She routinely passed herself off as being older and usually got away with it. Now Ariadne knew why. The Architect followed the Girl though the market. Ignoring the driving rain.
"What did you and Sybil talk about?" Arthur asked as the couple did the dishes. Sybil had retreated to her room after eating. It had been a solemn dinner with only the three of them. Arthur had the good sense not to ask Sybil anything.
"She was in Limbo." Ariadne told him. She handed him a dish to rinse. "For a long time. We always thought she was mature for her age because of T.V. Or something, but..." Ariadne couldn't finish. Arthur remained silent.
"What did Hecate say after we left?" She asked him
"If it's true, it's amazing." Arthur admitted. "Cobb and Braker have both been in. We can trust them."
"We can't trust her." The Architect said
"There was a time we couldn't trust Sybil." Arthur told her.
"Sybil never put a twelve year old in Limbo. It must have been horrific for her. It must be still be difficult. Mal killed herself after coming back." Ariadne said letting her hands play over the soapy water. Her thoughts wandered away from her as silence fell between them. She felt Arthur's warm lips on her forehead. He had leaned over and kissed her, breaking her free of her own oblivion.
* Priam, King of Troy during the Trojan War.