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[talien]

Located at the end of a cul-de-sac on the edge of the mostly suburban incorporated village of Bountin, Dinosaur Lodge sat on nine acres of land covered in standing copses of trees and bushes, surrounded by a twelve-foot stone fence.

"This place looks familiar," said Archive.

They drove all the way down to Maryland from New York, non-stop. Guppy had given up on trying to convince his former teammates that they were wrong and had lapsed into a depressed state, numbly staring at the far side of the van.

They stopped at the front gate. "We're dropping off Hank Gupta at the request of Major Sprague," said Hammer.

The guard looked at his clipboard. "Yep, okay. Welcome to Dinosaur Lodge." He waved the van on. "Go on through."

Archive parked the van in the visitor lot and they walked into the facility. The walls were oak-paneled and the rooms well furnished. The place was more like a vacation lodge than the housing facility of a research center, which the broad verandas and sunlit rooms emphasized.

Impossible to ignore, just within the main entry, was a gigantic mounted skeleton of an allosaur, poised menacingly toward the visitor. A housekeeper cleaned and polished the cool brown bones.

"Wow." Jim-Bean stared up at the allosaur skeleton. "That thing is totally going to come to life and eat us."

An attractive thirty-something woman greeted them. "Hi!" she chirped. "I'm Angela Smith." She shook Jim-Bean's hand, smiling warmly at him. "Welcome to Dinosaur Lodge! Please fill out these papers, Mr. Gupta, and we'll get you processed."

Hammer grabbed the pen from Angela. "I'll do it for him. Gupta is not to be released from his restraints."

While Hammer filled out and signed a number of standard forms and waivers, a slender, professional-looking woman arrived followed by a large bald man.

"Hello. I'm Dr. Marina Ivanovna. This is Farley Danzer, one of our orderlies." She looked Hammer and his team over. "I've been instructed to assign you to security. So you'll be working in conjunction with the team here to secure the facilities." Ivanonva paused as she caught sight of Archive. "You're not on my list."

"He's a consultant," said Hammer quickly.

"He's not authorized," said Ivanovna curtly. "So he'll have to stay in our guest facilities. Sorry."

Archive shrugged. "No problem."

Angela handed each of the agents security badges. Archive received a badge that read VISITOR in big bold letters.

"Angela, please show mister…"

"Fontaine."

"…Fontaine to the guest house. The rest of you, follow me please."

Archive left with Angela, who shot a smile over her shoulder at Jim-Bean before departing. Then they followed Ivanovna into the facility.

"Dinosaur Lodge is a dream research and sleep facility," said Ivanovna. "The first floor contains general access rooms, the kitchen and dining room, and offices. The second, third, and fourth floors are devoted to the staffers’ rooms. You'll be staying there as well."

There were guards armed with sub-machineguns at every intersection. They wore black, unidentified patches.

"The real work goes on in the Dreamweb." Ivanovna led them out of the Lodge and towards another building.

"Dreamweb?" asked Caprice.

"The Krogen Institute studies and monitors dreams, primarily through the use of an amazing technological innovation called the Dreamweb, a device simple in concept and awesomely complex in construction and operation," explained Ivanovna as they walked. "The Dreamweb monitors minute electrical impulses and chemical changes in the brain of a sleeper, translating them into bits of data decipherable by a computer. This data becomes a video image transmitted to one or more recording sites. By inducing minor chemical changes in a sleeper’s bloodstream and applying electrical stimuli, dreams can be slightly altered, though the precise nature of the induced changes is still unpredictable."

"And you think this can help Gup—I mean Hank?" asked Jim-Bean.

"Yes. We've had some major successes with some other patients like him. Mr. Brendel is a similar case, a programmer who suffered some extreme mental stress. Dr. Perov has made great progress with him by examining his subliminal consciousness. Here we are."

The Dreamweb was contained in a circular, glass-in chamber at the center of the lab building. In the middle of the chamber was a plush examination couch that promoted deep relaxation. Dozens of electrodes were taped to key points on the subject’s head and body. Wires from the electrodes extended to banks of sockets mounted on the curved wall, giving the chamber a rather spidery look when in operation.

"Now I know why they call it the Dreamweb," said Caprice.

Around the outside of the web chamber were banks of consoles displaying the input from the monitoring electrodes.
Each of the five monitoring stations, as well as the two observation areas, were equipped with viewing screens on which dreams were displayed. They ranged from flying to a person standing naked in front of an audience to reunions with relatives.

"From here," said Ivanovna, "researchers can track incoming data while simultaneously observing the dreamer through windows. Let's get started shall we?"