Oliver listened to his friends discuss the situation, but remained very quiet. The attack had sent his mind reeling. As he looked at the faces of his friends, he could tell that everything had changed. The attack had stolen everyones innocence and sense of wonder, replacing it with heavy reality, with the weight of their collective missions. But it wasnt all doom and gloom. Esther sat amongst them now as a new friend.

A girlfriend? Oliver wondered.

He didnt know how to define their relationship but he was very glad to have her by his side.

The group of friends picked at their food. No one was hungry and barely a morsel had been eaten between them when the motorized arms came to collect their dishes. Then the table descended and everyone left the F hall.

They didnt even need to say aloud where they were heading. They all made a beeline straight to the Z atrium. It was flashing white to allow the students to enter freely, as per Professor Amethysts instructions for them to get lots of sleep. Oliver was grateful. He was exhausted.

Ichiro was on duty, his usual smile replaced by a sort of heavy weariness. He showed each of them into their sleep pods without any joking quips.

Oliver attached his wires and monitors quickly. He couldnt get to sleep soon enough. He wanted to put the terrors of the day out of his mind. So as soon as he was wired up, he pressed the white button and fell into a deep, instantaneous sleep.

*

Oliver found himself standing on the edge of a tall building. Though hed never seen the School for Seers from the outside, he instinctively knew that that was where he was standing. He could see the shimmering bubble-like barrier of the protective shield arcing all around the building, encompassing the vast green fields of the school grounds that stretched on.

Just then, something in the distance caught Olivers eye. There was movement. Some kind of dark shape was bobbing on the horizon.

Oliver squinted and tried to decipher what he was seeing. The shape seemed to be bobbing, up then down, over and over. With a gasp, Oliver realized what he was looking at. An army. One hundred men strong. The strange movement was their perfect march.

Oliver gasped. The army was heading straight for the school!

As they drew closer he could make out more details. Their uniforms were a dusky khaki color, reminiscent of the uniforms worn by soldiers in World War Two. And they were maneuvering something along with them, some kind of weapon on a metal gurney with wheels. It looked like a rocket, with a strange egg-shaped body and wires protruding from it. Oliver recognized it instantly. The first atomic bomb. Hed seen its image in his inventors book.