Why Are My Dreams Weird Tonight?

John falls asleep. After a few nightmares, he starts to have another vision. He sees the same man walk into the boardroom again.

"Whisper, what is the status of the energy spike? Also, any luck on getting the sensors back online?"

Whispers appear in front of him, partially lighting up the other side of the room from the shadowed man, still shaded despite the room faintly lit from Whispers' hologram.

"So far, nothing that matches the signatures of any previous targets we have ever tracked. I am still trying to see what I can make of it. It's something I have never seen before. It seems to be more powerful than any of our previous readings. That could be why our sensors got knocked out."

The man thinks for a bit.

"Are any of our targets getting more powerful? Could any of the targets that we lost contact with have gotten more powerful & came out of hiding?" Whisper shakes her head, "I don't think so, sir. The closest target that we're tracking is in Las Vegas, Nevada, currently gambling. The closest two targets that we lost contact with were last seen in California & Washington. But I doubt they would have gotten this powerful this quickly. It has to be something new, sir."

The man nods. "What about our personnel? Is there anyone unaccounted for?"

"No, sir. All personnel is here or on their respective assignments. The closest personnel to Oregon is in California. I can reassign him to check out the strange reading if you want, sir."

The man looks up for a second, "Which agent is that Whisper?"

A light appears looking like a holographic screen appears in front of the seat on the table closest to the man, with the text at the top that says "Agent 478" with the text "Facial Profile:" just under it. Under the text, it shows an empty black square, with the words "Classified" printed across it in giant print as to almost cover the whole image.

The man shakes his head, "No, that is fine, Whisper. What can you tell me about the target in Vegas?"

"User-P4853; Adult male in his late 20s. Single, Lives in Vegas, likes to gamble, smoke cigarettes, & has an alcohol addiction. He has not done anything unusual in the past six months. Currently playing Blackjack & on a good winning streak, if I might add."

The man sits in the chair at the table closest to the door & the one the holographic screen is next to, "Ok Whisper, what about the two targets we lost contact with? What do we have on them?"

"The targets were User-P352 & User-P5864. User-P352: Adult male in his late 40s, believed to be dead. Reportedly died in Idaho 6 months ago from a gunshot wound in the heart from the front. Strangely enough, there have been energy patterns matching his own, a few months after his reported death in Washington. There have been no other signatures matching his after that. Other than that, there is no other evidence that he is still currently alive. User-P5864: Adult female in her early to mid-20s; She robbed a bank in New Mexico 4 months back. We tracked her to California, where she bought a house, in full with cash, near Malibu Beach, where she appeared to be living. But two months ago, we lost track of her energy signal. Her energy signal hasn't been detected since then."

The man replies, "Send me the files on User-P352, User-P5684, & User-P4853. I want to check on something."

"Anything I can help you find, sir?"

The man shakes his head, "No, Whisper, that is fine for now. Whisper, you said the closest agent is in California, correct?"

Whisper nods her head, "Yes, sir. Agent 478, currently looking into the disappearance of User-P5864."

The man stands up out of the chair, "Have Agent 478 be ready to go to Oregon if things get worse. For now, tell Aida Harper & Lillya Roberts of your findings, & keep them informed of everything you find."

Whisper nods her head again, "Yes, sir. I will notify you if there are any major developments."

"Whisper, are the Oregon sensors online yet?" the man asks.

"Strangely, sir, the sensors are not responding to my commands. They will start to reboot, but before the bootup sequence finishes, it crashes." Whisper says confusingly.

"I am looking into possible reasons why they won't reboot correctly. Should I send an agent to go & check it out manually?" Whisper asks.

The man thinks for a bit, "Have Adia help you analyze the sensors & get them back online. We need those sensors online now! Also, try using the satellites to cover the area while the sensors are offline." Whisper disappears after nodding her head.

The man nods his head & starts to walk out of the room, "Perfect. Oh & Whisper, about that other thing. Any new developments from them?"

"I lost visual about an hour before the energy spike. The energy spike was not that far away from where I lost visual."

The man walks back into the room, shuts the door, & locks it. In an angry tone of voice, the man says, "Tell me more about what happened, Whisper."

Whisper reappears, "Well sir, they enter the forest & that is where I lost visual with them."

The man looks at Whisper in confusion, "Them?"

"Yes, sir, both he & the female went into the forest. After about almost an hour, I detected the energy spike. I have not seen them exit the forest after that, but the vehicle they were in before going into the forest drove away about an hour after I detected the energy spike. But the strange thing is I didn't see anyone enter the vehicle at all. It seemingly drove off by itself."

The man thinks for a moment, "Show me where the vehicle went?"

Whisper pulls up a map of the area for him to look at, which shows the vehicle's path.

"It went to his house, then went into the town, stopped by two stores, then went to her house. The vehicle is currently at her house. I did not have any visual on anyone ever leaving the vehicle either."

"I assume the vehicle was hers. Which store did the vehicle go to? What did they get?"

Whisper has a confused look on her face, "Sir, I don't understand why it matters, but the vehicle stopped by the two stores, Antique Chariot Liquor & Agreeing Berry. The only transactions made at the time were a few bottles of alcohol at Antique Chariot Liquor, then they went to Agreeing Berry to get eggs, cheese, & saltine crackers. I didn't detect any purchases made at the stores with a debit or credit card at the time. So they had to be made in cash."

The man looks at the map seeing the path the car took, "Whisper, has there been any energy signatures in the area since the one you detected earlier today? Did they match the energy spike from earlier?"

Whispers change the maps to show the current energy signatures in the area, "There are two extremely faint signatures currently. They seem to come & go. They seem more like fluctuations & not an actual signature from a User. I highly doubt that the readings are anything that should be dealt with, because from pas-"

The man interrupts her, "Have Aida Harper & Lillya Roberts go check it out!"

Whispers look at the man, confused, "Sir?"

"You heard me. Have Aida & Lillya check out the energy spike & what caused it. I then want them to see if the fluctuations are what I think they are."

"Well, sir, I hope you don't think they are from both of them. They are extremely faint signatures & only partially matching the signature from the energy spike that we detected. They are only a 60% match. It is possible, but no other Users have had signatures this faint before. Sir, there hasn't been a User to have an energy signature change anywhere close to what I have detected."

The man slams his fist down on the table, "Whisper! You know what will happen if they find out both of them are Users. I can't let that happen to them."

"Sir, you do know the chances of them being Users are shallow. Do you think that they are the cause of the energy spike?"

The man thinks for a moment, "I still am not going to let them get to both of them. I will protect both of them & even kill someone if I have to!"

"Don't worry, sir. I am still monitoring their houses & the forest around both of their houses. If anything happens then, I will tell the agents to deal with the danger that appears. I will make sure you know of any dangers to them immediately too, sir."

The man gets up, walks up to the door, & unlocks it. "Whisper, make sure nothing happens to them."

"Of course, sir. I will never let anything happen to them."

The man nods, "Thank you, Whisper," The man then opens the door & walks out.