Project 863: Project Dreamcast

by Bethany Grace O'Brien

art by u/DiViSuCa18

SPELLBOUND INC. BLUEBASE: 8:AM

Samantha slipped her car keys into the pocket of her blazer and stepped into the studio. She took a sip of her coffee–way too hot—and smiled as she received a greeting from Lauren at the front desk.

“Matt’s in Megadesk, you’ll want to see this.”

Sam cocked an eyebrow. That feeling in her gut. She inhaled.”Kay, thanks.” At least she was able to last a few hours before that lead weight of intuition in her core remembered how heavy it was.

“Sam?” A muted voice projected from enclosed office walls, but Matt’s tone was recognizable anywhere. That nervous, drawn-out laugh mixed with a groan that declared the weight of a situation. “You wanna come in here for a sec?”

Sam dropped her bag on a sofa in the entryway and moved toward Matt’s office, poking her head through the opening she made in the door. Her vision met Woods and Bailey already lounging in the theater style seats toward the back of the office. Matthias sat at the helm, serious faces all around. Samantha blinked, her eyes adjusting to the intense green light emanating from multiple fixtures that together, created a stark lightning bolt on the far wall.

“Come on in, Sam.” Matt motioned inward with his hand.

Sam’s eyes drifted down, air catching her throat as her vision found the meeting’s subject. The journal. Her attention drifted to the other two occupants in the room. “There’s another one?” Her head rocked back when Matthias held up the thick, white-paged notebook.

“Yep.” Another awkward chuckle.

Samantha’s eyes fully widened, “Wha–how?” She made eye contact with Woods who combed his hands through his hair. Bailey grinned.

“Matt said it’s a riddle this time. Oohhh.” She sarcastically jazz handed the air. Woods groaned.

“Hi, Sam. Nice—bright—blazer.” Woodland waved, crossing his ankles. The guy was always so chill.

Samantha returned the–compliment?–with a dry expression and fully stepped into Megadesk, folding her arms. “Seriously. Another entry?” She sighed in disbelief. “What’s it say?” She turned, giving Matthias her full attention. How long was he planning to hold the suspense? That dead blue-eyed stare was only humorous for so long.

“Yeah, Matt. We haven’t heard it yet either.” Bailey inhaled. Woods combed that hair again. Always with the hair.

“So, you gonna read it, or?”

Another chuckle from Matthias. “Yeah, Woods. You guys ready?”

Blank stares equaled a yes. Prepare for the unexpected. Especially where Project 863 is concerned. The thought in the forefront of everyone’s mind.

Matt flipped open the cover. He glanced at his team and leaned forward, resting elbows on knees as his vision blinked down to the page in question.

“Okay, what?” Stop blurting out words. Samantha closed her mouth. Catching flies, are we? She exchanged glances with the team.

“That’s not creepy at all.” Woods sighed.

Matt’s eyes darted back and forth across the page. “This feels different from the others.” He looked up, “Why a riddle?”

“And why do they keep appearing out of thin air?” A laugh escaped Sam’s lips. The kind when you’re exasperated and have no clue why you’ve just eaten 5 cookies when you probably only needed 1. Let’s face it, you really didn’t need any.

Woods stood up and approached Matt, furrowing his brows as he focused on the open journal in Matt’s hand. “Monumental mistakes. That’s—depressing. Not something you’d expect to hear from Syntec.” He inhaled, “What are we supposed to do with a riddle?”

Matthias shrugged. “Solve it—right? What do you guys think?”

Sam noticed the empty seat beside Bailey. Quick, make your move. She smirked at Woods when he noticed the theft of his previous seat and Sam relaxed comfortably into the cushions. “Yeah, why not?” She removed a strand of hair caught in her hoop earring. “Read the first part again.”

Matthias cleared his throat and recited the beginning line.
Sam watched Matt stroke his bearded chin. Customary thinking pose.
“If we’re going literal, could it be an actual headstone?” Matt’s eyes lifted. Woods shrugged, “Like the one from the stakeout back in October?”

“Wesley Nathanial’s grave.” Sam met Matt’s gaze. He nodded, “yeah, where we saw the Phantom and I had my bag of Albanese gummies.” He grinned.

Again with the sweets. Matt was nothing if not consistent. “Do you remember everything by the snacks? Sam held back laughter as Matt feigned shock.

“How dare you.” He sucked in an offended breath. “Snacks are everything.” He scooted his chair toward the mini refrigerator and plucked a grape from a bunch on the inside shelf. “It’s grape content.” Another toothy grin.

The eye rolls were as loud as ever.

“You’re such a troll.” Woodland took the journal from Matt and recited the riddle’s next line. “Monumental mistakes to someone, we confide.” His Lofi voice made it sound less mysterious than its probable intent. “So, they’re sorry about something? If this is Syntec, that’d be a first.”

Nods all around. Matt leaned back in his chair, his arms folding as Woods quoted the remainder, speaking when he finished. “It’s gotta be a grave. Head hard as stone, eternal sleep. The indication is obvious.”

“Field trip then?”

Sam looked at Bailey, memories of the stakeout creating a false sense of fatigue. “Please just not 3am again.”

Woods laughed, “And let’s not go finding Phantoms, leaving me asleep in the van?” He eyed Matt.

“That was your fault, bro. I’m not gonna wake a sleeping Woods.” He took the journal back and glanced over the riddle.

The silence was splitting as Matthias scoured every inch of the page. Sam couldn’t believe they were getting ready to return to the grave site. Matt wouldn’t have his gummy bears this time and previously, the trip ended in discovering a dug up grave.

Matt handed the journal to Bailey and pushed out of his seat, calling to Woods. “Can you grab a bat?”

Awkward laughter erupted at the request. The literal thought of fetching a bat from the back of the closet was amusing, yes. But Matt’s ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ voice had the ability to cause uneasiness and excitement simultaneously. Perhaps a little counterintuitive, but Matthias always knew how to bring a situation down to earth. Even if it came crashing down.

“Sam, can you get us water?” Matt looked in her direction. “I have a meeting at 8:45,” He glanced at his watch. “We can head out after.” Matt followed his team out of Megadesk and killed the lights, closing the door behind him. “Meet me out front in an hour.”

JUST EXITED MATT’S TESLA 015 GRAVE SITE: 10:15am

Gravel crunched beneath their feet as the team ambled on. They weren’t going to win any quiet awards and you could see them coming a mile away with that sleek black Tesla and the falcon doors. But they weren’t exactly blending in anyway with Matt’s wide brimmed Fedora and Woods batted up to the nines. Not to mention Samantha’s blinding, hot pink blazer. Why was it so bright?

Heat waves danced and warbled the horizon. Matt wiped his forehead, his Project 863 ring glinting off the intense sunlight. Even the clouds were sweating. But at least the probability of finding a Phantom was low. The randomness of this escapade was ridiculous.

Woods shielded his eyes from the light as he glanced back at Matt. “If ghosts are white at night, are they black during the day?”

What an icebreaker question. A slap to the shoulder was Sam’s response. Matt bent over laughing, pointing his attention at Woods as he straightened. “You wanna see a ghost, Woody?” He continued walking backwards. Geez, those heat waves were following them.

“Aren’t black ghosts just shadows?”

Bailey chiming in with her logical thinking as always. Shadows as ghosts? Fascinating thought. Matthias smiled. Several minutes of debate on the subject brought them within spitting distance of Wesley’s grave and that half-bleached concrete marker that didn’t exactly scream ‘rest in peace’

Samantha circled the headstone. At least her blazer’s vibrance added a sense of cheer to this otherwise dreary, heat stroke sort of day. Slurpees would be good right about now. That mega green apple flavor. Yeah. Or perhaps cherry—

“We should’ve brought a shovel...”

Matt’s brows raised. “You wanna dig up the grave, Woods?” His head swiveled to Bailey, “This kid wants to see a body.”

Woods denied the accusation and propped his bat against the headstone as he circled behind to stand near Sam, crouching for a closer look. “Seems normal to me.” His shoulders slumped and Matt could see the sweat soaking through the middle of his back. Everyone was suffering.

“What secrets we keep while conviction digs deep to right all remorse that aids in one’s plight of eternal sleep.” Bailey read from her phone, quoting the second half of the riddle.

The notes app was a lifesaver.

“Sounds like we’re digging up a grave.”

“Aha! See, I knew it.” Matt voiced his triumph at Woods’ statement. “You totally want to see a body.” He adjusted the tilt of his brim, allowing his hat to block more sunlight. Functional and stylish. Amanda always said she liked the hat. Hides your ears. The sarcastic insult.

“Do we think B27 left anything?” Samantha spoke as her flattened hand moved to her brow.

“The first words are ‘head hard as stone’” Bailey folded her arms, shifting her weight.

“So, something’s hidden in the headstone?” Matthias scratched his head, his boots crushing weeds as he moved closer to the grave marker. “I guess let’s look.”

He and Woods ran hands over the concrete. The latter dragged his fingertips along the grooves of the 015 numbers carved in the front. “I don’t know, Matt.” He looked up.

Matthias slapped on a puzzled expression and squatted down, resting forearms on his knees, vision laser focused.“There’s gotta be something—here, look!” Matt indicated towards an area near the bottom left corner on the reverse side of the headstone.

Everyone crowded to see, the girls crouching in the shade Matthias and Woodland created. Genius.

“The color of concrete is different here.” Woods indicated toward an oblong rectangle inconsistent with the rest of the stone.

“Perhaps it was done at a later date.” Matt ran his thumb along the perimeter of the shape, scratching the surface with his nail. “This stuff feels softer.”

Woods copied the motion, nodding. “Yeah, it does.” He pulled a small knife from his pocket and flipped it open, scratching the tip of the blade parallel along the newer filling’s border, slowly but surely making progress.

“Snap a couple photos. Here’s my phone.” Matt pulled the device from his back pocket and handed it to Samantha. “Subject 4 will want to see this.” Dropping his telly into Sam’s palm, Matt pulled a waterbottle from the bag they’d dropped on the ground. Taking a quick sip, he began pouring the liquid so it would run down the headstone, wetting the discolored section where Woods was working.

“Water helps, how?” Bailey eyed Matt’s action, shielding her eyes from the sun.

“Water is erosive.” Matthias continued pouring. “It might help a little bit.”

“It might get me all wet.”

Matt dogged the water Woods attempted to fling back in his direction. Hopefully the kid’s shoes would dry quickly. “Sorry.”

Matthias chuckled. A mistake. That’s all it was. That’s what he told himself. Messing with Woods was too much fun. And although they’d never admit it, they were loving every minute of this. Curiosity is what drove them, even if it drove them to their graves. How fitting. they were currently at a grave.

“And this is a grave situation.” Sam blurted the last syllable, followed by laughter. “Sorry, I had to.”

Everyone groaned as Matt gave Sam a dry stare. “Really, Sam?” He blinked.

“Smile.” Sam quickly made the face permanent as she snapped it with Matt’s phone. “Straight to the discord.” She giggled triumphantly.

“You know everyone’s going to make that face a meme now, right?” Bailey teased.

“I’ll caption it with the pun too.” Samantha focused on the screen.
Matthias shook his head. “Memes are gonna be the death of me.” He swallowed a chuckle. Great. An unintentional pun. Grave. Death. Maybe they didn’t–yep. They did.

Bailey palmed her forehead.
Woods’ head dipped in laughter.
No doubt Sam already made an addition to the discord post.

Matt cleared his throat, “making any progress, Woods?”

Woodland affirmed the question as he pried the cover loose. The thin block of concrete tumbled to the ground to reveal a separate compartment that had been fixed into the original headstone, then covered with a thinner sheet of concrete, the cracks sealed up afterwards at an attempt of disguise. Clever.

Woods reached into the compartment, pulling out what looked to be a cassette tape.

“You didn’t tell us you hid monster tapes here, Woods.” Samantha let out a laugh.

Woods’ expression spoke of confusion for a split second before he got the joke, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, this was all me.” He studied the item briefly before handing it to Matt. “What do you think?”

Matthias took the tape and squinted, holding it up to the light. “Yeah, I mean, it looks just like the one from the Mountaineer. The film’s different though. Almost looks like video. Fascinating.” He brought it up to his face for a better look.

“May I see?” Bailey received the tape from Matt, getting her eyes up close and personal with the mysterious thing. “Dreamcast...”

“What?” The team responded in unison and everyone stepped closer.

“The tape.” Bailey held it out for Matt to see. “Right there, it has Dreamcast printed on the front.”

“With the Syntec clovers as well. I see that. Fascinating.” Matthias took the tape and stood up, his vision moving to Sam. “You seeing this?”

She nodded. “Syntec Dreamcast.”

Matthias couldn’t blame the excitement in her voice. Something new. Something unknown. He could feel the adrenaline creeping up his spine.

“I don’t like the sound of it.” Woods cringed, “Syphee can control minds, now he’s dreamcasting? What does that even mean?”

Matt cleared his throat, a sober moment hitting the air. Mind-control. He’d had first hand experience at that and it wasn’t something he cared to dwell on. Even though the memories plagued his day to day. 7 months he’d lost and would never regain. Courtesy of Nelson Syphus.

“Maybe it’s not that bad.” Bailey shrugged, “The riddle said ‘right all remorse,’ maybe they’re apologizing?”

“Ohhhhhh, you mean a confession tape?!” Matt set the tape on the headstone and backed away, hands in the air. “I don’t like that at all....” His face scrunched. The thought alone set his senses on edge.

Unbalanced, the tape teetered and toppled to the ground. Woods bent to retrieve it, making an additional observation. “Matt, there’s something else.” He reached into the cavity, shaking the dust off a tightly folded piece of paper. “Matt,”

Everyone did that cringe smile when you know but don’t wanna know and Matthias tipped his hat back on his head as he took the paper from Woods. “Let’s read this, shall we?”

Woods wiped sweat from his brow and sighed. “Can we read it back at Bluebase? It’s hot.”

Everyone agreed and Matt nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty warm.” He adjusted his hat. “Back to the Tesla!”

SPELLBOUND INC. BLUEBASE: 1:45pm

“Hey, Shenelle, we brought lunch.” Sam and Bailey held up bags of Out-n-In as they entered the breakroom. “Is Matt done with the Dope or Nope shoot yet?

“He just finished actually.” Shenelle grabbed a drink from the fridge and made her way to a table, pulling out a chair. Her vision moving past the girls and toward the entryway, “There’s Matt,”

Sam followed her gaze, making eye contact with her boss as he stepped into view.

“Did you need me, Shenelle?” Matthias ambled into the room, smiling as he caught a whiff of the food. “Ooh, Out-n-In, I’m part of whatever meeting you’re having.” He voiced the famous Matthias chuckle and glanced at Sam. “You got lunch for your boss, right?” She’d better. He raised his brows.

The girls laughed until the serious face pulled an affirmative confession from them, appeasing the tyrannical CEO of Spellbound who must have his Out-n-In.

Matt broke the charade, unable to hide his humor. Really, though, if you’re not being sarcastic, what are you doing? “Where’s Woods?:

Sam set the bags of food on a table and slid into a chair next to Bailey. “You’re the boss. Shouldn’t you know?” Sarcasm tinted her tone.

Matthias rocked his head back. Of course. Everything’s the boss’ fault. He laughed. “Woods is–”

“Here.” Woodland appeared. How is the kid always so quiet? “What’s up?”

Matt motioned toward the food. “Lunch.”

“You think I didn’t smell that in the hall?” He picked the chair next to Sam, reaching for a bag.

“Lucky for you, we got extra.” Sam teased, passing Woods a drink.

“Did you find that cassette player?” Matthias took the remaining empty seat, moving to unwrap his burger. He should probably have water. The healthier option. His hand moved towards a bottle.

“Yeah, I’ve got it.” Woods stuffed a ketchup drenched fry into his mouth and pulled the device from his back pocket. A portable walk-man style cassette player. The thing looked ancient. He set it on the table.

“Do you think it’ll even play?” Bailey sipped her soft drink.

“I figured we should at least try it. Who knows?” Matt sank his teeth into the warm cheese, beef and bun, grabbing a napkin when ketchup escaped. “If it doesn’t play though, I don’t know what we’ll do.” Don’t talk with your mouth full. Bad manners, Matt.

Samantha put her burger down and wiped her hands, “I’m so curious about the paper though,”

“Me too actually.” Matt found a napkin, wiping the Out-n-In off his hands before finding the paper still tucked in the pocket of his distressed jeans. He carefully unfolded the creases. “It’s another project form.” his brows furrowed, “Project Dreamcast. Appointed by N. Syphus.” He began reading.

“Fascinating.” Matt scanned the document.

“And creepy.” Sam’s brows furrowed. “That sounds dangerous.”

“You found that in the headstone?” Shenelle inquired from across the room.

Matt nodded. “It’s authorized by Nelson.” His eyes moved back to the three at his table, pointing to the signature.

“It has another one too though.” Woods took the form from Matt. “See? Grace Fraser.”

“We haven’t heard that name before.” Bailey threw her food wrappers in the trash, returning to the table. “What else does it say?”

“Looks like Grace was the initiator. Her signature’s here too.”

Woods concentrated on the form and read the next paragraph aloud. “Initiator notes.”

“This can record the dreams of victims possessed by Nelson?” The realization hit hard. “I had some crazy dreams during those 7 months I was—” Matt choked on his own words. No one could imagine what he’d gone through. Doing things he never thought himself capable of because through Nelson, he’d betrayed everyone he loved? Matt’s eyes found the floor. “Keep going, Woods.”

Woodland continued reading after an encouraging nod from Samantha. His chill tone dampened the serious mood.

“So, she had drawbacks about the project?” Sam voiced as she crossed her legs under the table.

“Obviously not enough to stop it.” Matt sipped his soda, the liquid tingling on his tongue. The Project S.P.I.R.E form had some remorse from Wes, but they knew his character. Somewhat. They hadn’t heard of this Grace Fraser before. “Does it say anything else?”

“Only dates and stuff.” Woods handed the document back to Matt. “Says the clearance level is Peppermint though.”

Matt looked over the form again. “But this doesn’t solve anything.” Frustration laced his tone. He didn’t want to give up. But they had nothing to go on except for the tape. And it wasn’t exactly guaranteed to be playable. Matthias inverted the paper. Was that writing on the back? He squinted. “Ugh, can’t see it.” He rose, moving toward a light source. “I think it says ‘CDM safe at location 1.’”

“But, this is location 1, right?”

“Yeah, Bailey.” Matt scanned the document for any additional messages. Nothing. He settled his weight back into the chair.

“There’s one of those monitor things here?” Woods scratched the backside of his head, taking the cassette player off the table. “I’ll bet that’ll play the tape.” He fiddled with the volume buttons.

“I don’t even want to think about that tape’s recording.” Samantha sighed. “Watching someone’s Syntec dream?” She shook her head.

“Someone’s possessed dream.” Matt muttered.

“Guess I got this player out for nothing if we’re gonna try to find this dream machine.”

“Oh, I don’t like that at all.” Matt gave Woods a disgusted glance.
“It’s better than the cognitive destruction maniac device.”

Matt lost the serious mood and gave Woods the eye. “Cognitive Data Monitor.”

He chuckled.

“Whatever it’s called, how are we going to find it?” There it was. The million dollar question. Bailey in for the win.

Matt smiled and pushed back from the table. “Follow me. I have an idea.”

SPELLBOUND INC. BLUEBASE MEGADESK: 2:00pm

Pinging 20,000 plus people? Some might call him crazy, but then again. When was Matthias Fredrick ever afraid of a little chaos? Hit enter.

Matthias863 - We found a document with this scribbled on the back. Any idea where this device could be hidden?

The question was straight to the point. Numerous suggestions and dozens of messages had swamped the Calling Subject 4 channel. Thank goodness for slow mode.

“They’re all saying check Deb’s hideout and the server room where we found the RSD.” Matt slid his fingers toward the keyboard, speaking as he typed. “We combed those locations thoroughly, nothing.” Enter.

The team watched in anticipation. Several people suggested going back to location 7. Matt scoured the feed. Honestly, did they even read the ping message?

Bailey pulled discord up on her phone to aid Matt’s endeavor, scanning the hundreds of replies. “Someone said check under the other stairs in redbase.”

Sam inhaled. “We’ve found stuff in all the staircases we’ve looked under.”

Woods made an addition, “Deb’s hideout, the server room—seems Redbase is a prime location.”

“Who messaged that?” Matt glanced over his shoulder.

Bailey scanned her screen, thumbing through the feed to find the message. “User is Megabat320.”

Matt chuckled. “Nice.” he scrolled to find the message and hit reply. “Under the stairs you say? Good idea.” Hit enter. He swallowed and watched as more suggestions rolled in.

- dont_forget_to_breathe
- Use the geiger counter —— sypheeistannersmom
- Take a bat to the walls —— Overkill_checkpins
- Be safe guys —— Chill-kill83
- Drill a hole and use the Endoscope from season 1

“Now that’s an idea.” Matt rubbed his chin. “Woods, the Endoscope still around?”

“I mean, it’s around somewhere.”

“Can you find a drill too?” Matt typed a reply to Chill-kill83. “We’re gonna give it a try.” He quickly typed another message and hit enter. Subject 4 always came through.

Matthias863 - Thanks, guys. Bye for now.

He pushed away from Megadesk and swiveled in his chair to face the team. “Redbase, anyone?”

SPELLBOUND INC. REDBASE. A STAIRCASE IN REDBASE: 3:09pm

Matt wiped his eye goggles with the hem of his shirt, saw in hand. Drywall particles were everywhere and an hour’s work had yielded multiple holes drilled in the attempt to find an angle that would allow them to see more than just pitch black. Shine a light through one while Endoscoping the other, hoping to gain footage that would describe the reality behind the wall. Debris littered the floor and a box with various drill bits, goggles and respirators jumbled together was strewn to the side, the black endoscope corded up and set on top.

Matthias clutched the grip of the drywall saw, sliding it back and forth in a vigorous motion. They’d found something alright. The secrets hidden in this studio never ceased to amaze him.

Woods soon stepped in to take his turn with the saw and Matt moved out of the way, retrieving his smartphone to review snapshots of the Endoscope’s feed from earlier. The thing was futuristic looking, though it had an ‘80s retro cassette vibe that matched the era.

Sam and Bailey were on standby. Moral support it’d been deemed. Matthias let out a breath, wiping perspiration from his forehead. Thank goodness for air-conditioning.

“We’re almost through, Matt.” Woods made several final pulls with the saw. “Hand me that screwdriver.”

Matt fetched the item and stepped forward. “I got it.” He forced the flat end into the cut and pried it outward, creating just enough room to slip in his fingers.

With a grunt, he and Woods pulled the remaining bits of stubborn drywall free, creating an open cavity about the size of a narrow, full length mirror.

Matt engaged the light on his smartphone and braced his left hand on the wall beside the opening, reaching the light as far into the darkness as his arm would allow, his body following, inhaling dust that hadn’t been breathed for decades.

Woods made his way in next, Sam following Bailey in after. The light from 4 smartphones wasn’t too shabby.

“This is insane.” Matthias stepped further into the room, moving his light around to get a better bearing of their surroundings. A lab coat was hung on a nail near the right wall.

Woods pulled off the name tag. “Grace Fraser: Neurobiologist.”

“Fascinating.” Matt studied the name tag, afterwards moving the light to a beat up desk toward the back of the room. Good thing there were witnesses. Proof he wasn’t crazy. Matt eyed the desk, set upon it was the device—about the size of a large microwave. A digital screen and interface similar to the Apple II, only there were knobs and buttons with function titles in addition to the keyboard. ‘Dreamcast CDM’ printed on the side.

Faded white paneling encased the tech’s guts and dual red and blue stripes ran along the interface. A set of ancient headphones were hooked over what looked like an antenna and Syntec logos branded the top and side.

“Look.” Woods held up a headset kin to a modern VR device. “Does this plug into that?”

Matthias narrowed his gaze on the device in Woodland’s hands. It was obviously several decades old. The word ‘Dreamcast’ was printed on the front and an export cable attached under the eyes, its end dangling loose. About a yard of cable. Matt moved his focus to the CDM. Surely the devices were made to work in tandem. A thick layer of dust shrouded the monitor’s exterior, but one thing was clear. A compartment to the left of the screen. Perfectly sized for a cassette tape.

Everyone held their breath as Matthias thumbed the power switch. Watching as the screen booted up and the Dreamcast logo appeared in view on the black monitor screen, sending chills down everyone’s spines as that deja vu of the Apple II hit their core. Lucky the thing even worked after all this time. Matt flipped open the side compartment, the words ‘insert tape’ stamped on the interior cavity.

“Bailey,” Matt extended his hand behind him and received the tape, rotating it into the proper position before he slipped it into place. A perfect fit. “Ready?” Matt looked at his team. Did they nod? The shadows made it difficult to tell. Matt inhaled. Of course they were ready. He closed the compartment and engaged the nearest button, a cheer arousing when the monitor fully came to life, illuminating the cramped quarters even more. Lines of text developing on the screen.

GRACE FRASER: PATIENT ID B520811425 ENGAGE DREAM DATA

Matthais swallowed and looked back at his team. That glint of excitement filling his eyes. His fingers found the keys and hit enter. More text appeared in a scroll down feed.

CLEARANCE LEVEL REQUIRED ENTER ACCESS CODE
[TYPE TEXT HERE]

“What?” An exhale escaped Matt’s lungs and he rubbed his forehead. “Access code? You’ve gotta be kidding me.” He clenched his jaw.

“It says Grace Fraser though,” Bailey stepped closer to the device. “Why would it be her dream? She initiated the project.”

Nods of agreement all around.

Woods folded his arms, “It doesn't make any sense.”

Matt let out a discouraged breath, his hand gesturing forward as he spoke. “She probably didn’t know she was being recorded.”
The barrier was obvious. So close, yet so far. A few moments of silence followed before Matt ejected the tape, securing it in his pocket. He ran his tongue across his bottom lip. “Why does everything have a code we don’t know!” He slammed his hand on the table, sending particles of dust every which way.

Woods patted Matt’s shoulder. “We’ll find it.” He exchanged sympathetic glances with the team before grabbing the headset, “Subject 4 will help us.” He exhaled, administering another meaningful pat on Matthias’ shoulder. “Let’s take this stuff out into the light and get a closer look. I mean, we’ve just discovered a brand new piece of tech to explore.”

Matt’s hands settled on his waist as he studied the device, blue eyes closing as he nodded. “You’re right.” His lips shoved into a low key smile. “We should take this as a win.” He looked at his team. “Let’s update the evidence database so Subject 4 can get their eyes on it. But our next move is gonna be finding that code.” Matt let out a breath. “You with me?”

Affirmatives all around.

Matt nodded, a knowing Matthias smile appearing on his face. “Good. I have a feeling this is important.”

---

Stay tuned for the next Subject 4 short story next Friday at 2pm PST!