I vomited water and inhaled the lake, the anxiety of drowning overshadowing my sudden acceleration through the falls … into unconsciousness.

*   *   *

SO MUCH ANGER, ROBERT EISENBRAUN.

Oscar?

YOUR ANGER RESTRICTS THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF UNITY. THE ONE CALLED DHARMA UNDERSTANDS. LEARN FROM HER. ONLY THEN CAN YOU TRULY AWAKEN …

*   *   *

“Huh?”

Opening my eyes, I gasped a breath of daylight, as surprised to find my lungs pumping air as I was to be alive. Drenched and exhausted from yet another near drowning, I found myself lying in powdery pink sand along the shoreline of a tropical lagoon. Overhead, a cloud bank parted, revealing blue sky. Before me, a magnificent waterfall toppled a thousand feet over a mountain of rock that appeared to circle the entire perimeter.

Sitting up, I took a quick inventory of my body and noticed fresh suction marks along my left arm.

Oscar …

The lagoon was surrounded by a dense jungle that rose up crater walls. A nanosecond later, ABE determined that we were still in the cave, that the open realm was actually a collapsed doline.

Apparently, the network of caves ran beneath the redwood forest, which received a significant amount of rainfall. As runoff seeped through the limestone geology it created cavities that weakened the roof of the cave system. At some point in history, a section of the ceiling had collapsed, opening the cavern to daylight. Time and photosynthesis had created a unique ecosystem half a mile below the surface—an isolated Garden of Eden that served as a habitat for the cephaloped population.

“It’s not their natural habitat, you know.”

I turned to find Dharma standing by the lagoon. She was wrapped in the blanket, her dark eyes shimmering with golden-yellow flecks of light. “Are you okay? What happened to you? Did they … Hey, did you just read my thoughts?”

She beamed a smile so wide her face could barely contain her happiness. “A gift from the cephalopeds, a fading residual effect from having shared their collective consciousness. There is so much I need to share with you, Robert. And no, this isn’t an Omega dream. Yes, I realize that whatever I say could also be part of your dream, only you’re not—”

“Could you stop answering my thoughts before I pose the question, it’s really annoying.”

“My apologies. I imagine you must get that a lot from ABE.”

“ABE, I can control. You’re uninhibited.”

“You didn’t seem to mind back in the river.” Kneeling in the sand, she leaned in and kissed me. “If I seem a little giddy, it’s because I’ve lost the cynicism that has festered in my being like a malignant tumor since the Great Die-Off. The cephalopeds … there is far more to them than their evolutionary transition from sea to land.”

“They’re certainly intelligent, but I’ve yet to see Oscar incorporate the use of any tools. Guess we can blame the absence of an opposable thumb for that shortcoming.”