"Dean Wesley Smith - Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Dean Wesley)

For
Jim, Tony, Debbie, Chris, Melody, and Harry.
Thanks for all the great games.


chapter 1

The dream was always changing, even though it al-ways felt the same.
Aki jerked awake, coming up out of sleep like a swimmer gasping for breath. She brushed her
shoulder-length hair out of her face and looked around the lab, letting the familiar surroundings ease the
tension. She was strapped in her lounge chair in the research area of her ship. She was in orbit, headed for
the right time and spot for reentry into the atmosphere.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The dream felt the same, time after time, yet every time she
had it there were subtle changes. Changes she knew meant something.
The dream haunted her like an echo as she tried to push the images aside. She reached for the
holographic control panel over her chair. The display read:
Dream File Save? Yes? No? 12/13/2065

Aki punched Yes and the hologram disappeared. With a click, the scanning device retracted into the
panel over her head and the magnetic connectors hold-ing her in the chair deactivated. She floated upward
in the zero gravity from the released pressure of her body on the chair.
The dream dug at her mind like a mole, trying to show her something. It always felt the same. Always.
But she had decided to try recording them, to see what the differences really were, and if she could find
out what they meant.
She pushed herself across the high-tech laboratory toward the window, letting the moment of floating in
zero g ease her tension. Her quest had caused enough problems without her sleep being plagued by the
dream. If the Council knew about her dreams, they would shut down her research, she was sure.
But she needed to know what the dreams meant.
She eased herself into an upright position near the port, grasping a handhold to stay in place as she
stared at the blue and white of Earth hundreds of miles below. It was so beautiful, it calmed her even more,
and set her resolve to understand what was happening.
She let the images of the dream come back.
An alien sun and a massive moon shone through a thick, dusty sky, at levels too bright for
comfort. She was standing in a barren wasteland that was clearly scarred from a massive battle.
Under her feet seemed to be a lake, yet she remained on the surface, her own image re-flecting back
at her, as if she was standing on a mirror.
She was waiting for something. She had no idea what.
Then, over the horizon, a light started to outshine the hot sun, adding to the feeling of intense
heat.
She knew something was coming.
She could sense it, feel it in the shaking of the surface under her.
The air around her rumbled louder and louder; the dust, swirling like a breeze, was kicking it up.
Yet she could feel no wind against her face, no movement of her hair.
Something big was coming.
Huge.
But she didn't know what.
She just waited, facing it, wanting to turn and run, yet not doing so. She needed to know what it
was.
She needed to face it.
The air swirled, the dust choked her. The surface under her feet shook as the horizon got even