Aidan was dreaming. It happened fairly often, and he knew it wasn't real, but that didn't lessen the fear that often gripped him when the dreams played out. Even after all these years, he'd never gotten used to the strangeness of it all.

There seemed to be a theme to the dreams, that theme being mystical weirdness. Sometimes, he dreamt of a strange alien world, its unfamiliar land overcast with endless clouds. Just how did he know it was an alien world? Well, the existence of twin moons peeking through the clouds under a violet sky was a dead giveaway.

At other times, the dreams were of him talking to people, their faces blurred, the conversations muted as if he was wrapped in layers of bubble wrap whilst trying to interact with them.

One of the most annoying things was that the dream content randomly varied between new ones or repeats of a previous dream sequence, almost as if the mythical sandman had magically come to life only to periodically hit the replay button on some fancy dream remote.

The one thing all his dreams seemed to have in common was the frustrating fact that Aidan was nothing more than an observer, unable to change the various actions and outcomes no matter how much he tried. It was akin to being a puppet, with control handed over to an unseen puppeteer pulling at the strings.

Tonight, the content of his dreams was, by far, his least favourite. Aidan recognised his surroundings in a heartbeat, having experienced it dozens of times or more. Essentially, he was going to be chased by large and creepy dog-like creatures, their sizing falling into the gigantic category.

Like countless times before, Aidan trudged along the same route in the dream world. He was in a forest, but not an alien one. It was lush and green, with a moist earthiness hanging in the air, the odour the very kind that lingers after a passing rain cloud.

The ground was soft and slippery, but somehow dream-Aidan was exceedingly sure-footed. He was effortlessly running up a slippery slope when he heard the distinctive rustle of the undergrowth behind him. Without turning, he sped up, but it was futile. Familiar howls broke out in surround sound, signalling that he was closed-in on all sides.

The first doglike thing burst forth from some bushes right ahead and charged maniacally towards him. Even on all fours, the top of its head reached high above his waist. The creature was muscular, more muscular than any canid Aidan could think of, with long legs that made it look like it was towering off the ground.

Its upper body was broad and brawny, but then it tapered off sharply towards the creature's hindquarters. The closest comparison that his mind could conjure was a mutated, over-exercised greyhound on steroids.

A hulky-hound.

Aidan had seen this dream sequence enough times to recognise the shaggy grey fur and the cold, humanoid eyes that revealed its intelligence and calculating wit.

A half-second later, other creatures of similar build leapt forward from the undergrowth, joining the first to cage him in a tight circle. Dream-Aidan crouched low to the ground before leaping up with superhuman strength to grab one of the higher branches on the nearest tree.

Just as his fingers closed tightly on the rough tree bark, he heard more than felt the unmistakable crack of bone breaking as the grey-coloured creature sank its razor fangs into his dangling right ankle.

Aidan awoke, thrashing under the heavy quilt, his sweat-slicked hair pressed flat over his forehead and the beginnings of a scream forming in his throat. He gulped down hard, forcefully ending the scream before it could escape.

Rubbing a hand over the spot in his chest where his heart played on to a thundering beat, Aidan angrily shoved aside the thick covers with shaky hands and stumbled over to the kitchen sink. Several colourful expletives were on silent repeat in his head as he filled a glass with water from the tap.

When he was a child, the dreams had traumatised him, often leaving him sobbing in his mother's arms as she worriedly hugged him tight to her chest in the dead of night. Later, after his mother's death, his dad or brother Gavin took over the role, but nothing could compare to his mother's calming hugs.

Deeply worried, his father had tried sending him to a therapist, but to no avail. No amount of talking about it could chase the dreams away. Over time, he'd developed a sense of apathy and angry resistance to the whole ordeal, to the point that by the time he was twelve, he stopped shedding any more wasteful tears over them.

But not crying didn't mean he was suddenly fearless. Dreams like the one he'd just suffered were still horrible enough to leave him drenched in cold sweat.

After gulping down some water and washing the glass, he glanced at the wall clock and groused internally, 'Only five AM'. He wasn't due at the lab for another four hours.

He knew it was futile to try falling back asleep, so stifling a yawn, he brewed some black coffee, grabbing a mug his ex-roommate from college had gifted on his birthday. It had the words 'I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not too sure' printed on it. When he'd first received the gift, Aidan huffed in denial as he thought, 'I'm not that indecisive... am I?'

Coffee in hand, he headed to the room adjacent to his bedroom, which he'd converted into a comfortable office. On one end of the room, floor-to-ceiling cabinetry was messily filled with stacks of scientific journals, books and files.

Directly across from it stood a large office desk and matching leather swivel chair. The desk looked no better than the cabinets, overflowing with stacks of documents haphazardly placed next to a laptop and printer.

The least messy area of the desk held a lone framed photo of Aidan and his brother when they were kids, two little blond boys with blue eyes, smiling broadly for the camera. Being five years older, Gavin had been going through a sudden growth spurt, looking a tad lanky, while Aidan still had pudgy baby cheeks.

Aidan glanced at the photo fondly as he sipped his coffee before sinking into the comfortable leather of the desk chair, his favourite piece of furniture in the whole place. He leaned back while eyeing the unfinished paperwork he was about to tackle.

Robert had ensured his living accommodation was well furnished and as comfortable as possible, knowing that Aidan would be spending all his free time there.

Frankly, no one working at the research facility bothered driving out of the compound since it was so far away from anything other than forested land. But luckily for them, whoever it was that planned the setup of the place had the foresight to have in-built recreational facilities near the accommodation wing of the building.

When he arrived six months ago, Aidan's first impression of the place had been less than enthusiastic, but it turned out that his initial critique had been unfair. His change of heart began when Robert had first shown him his two-bedroom, fully furnished unit.

After years of living in a tiny studio apartment with nothing but a bed, desk and chair for furniture, this place felt palatial! It even came with a walk-in wardrobe!

His opinion of the place much improved, Aidan had stored his meagre belongings before continuing the tour with his new boss. Robert had smugly shown him the lounge and recreational facilities, including a swimming pool, basketball court, tennis court, bowling alley and gym.

By then, all of Aidan's doubts had melted away, but Robert, the sly old fox, had kept the best for last. One step into the laboratory had Aidan falling in love. Robert hadn't been exaggerating when he boasted about being well-funded, with state-of-the-art equipment in all corners of the laboratory.

Aidan almost cried when Robert showed him his very own section of the lab. All the equipment was his and his alone to use. No more sharing precious lab space with other postdoctoral fellows or research students only to find accidental contamination of his growth cultures and reagents by those who were careless and irresponsible.

No more congested workbenches. No more freshmen disrupting his free time with repetitive coursework questions.

At last, he could focus one hundred per cent on his research!

Now at the half year mark, Aidan was glad he took the risk of leaving his previous job for this one, although he still had some lingering questions about the place, in particular the restricted section of the compound where Aidan and most of his colleagues weren't given access to.

What sort of government project was going on in there that needed so much secrecy? Was it ethical? Deep down, Aidan couldn't push away the gnawing feeling in his gut that something wasn't quite right. Still, he could do nothing but hope that it was just his overactive imagination and pessimism that was casting a darker-than-necessary outlook on the whole thing.

While sipping his coffee, he poured through the raw data his colleagues had handed over the day before. As a lead researcher, he was in charge of three other junior researchers in the team. Thus far, their work on the cure for dementia seemed promising. Robert had recently tasked Aidan with analysing the effects of a new drug, and the raw data of the first trial was finally in. All he had to do now was make sense of it.

Aidan spent the next few hours tabulating the results, performing statistical analysis and drawing graphs. When he was finally done, he stared at the results with a growing sense of wonder before triple checking his work. There were no mistakes.

Aidan hit the print button before leaping off his chair and running to the bathroom to get ready. Ten minutes later, he haphazardly dressed before grabbing the printouts and rushing out the door. The excited man hurried as fast as possible without breaking into a run through the maze of corridors until arriving in front of Robert's office. It was only eight in the morning, but he knew the professor would already be there.

"Come in," Robert called when Aidan knocked on the closed door. The older man was smartly dressed as usual in a collared shirt and tailored pants, his hair neatly combed without a single strand out of place.

Aidan often wondered how Robert could accomplish so much in a single day and not look the slightest bit overwhelmed by the end of it. He hadn't known it when he first met his superior, but Robert was the top-ranked person in the entire Unified Research Centre. Every decision regarding funding and the overall running of the centre had to receive his approval first.

"Aha, if it isn't my favourite workaholic researcher," Robert unashamedly teased as he studied the frazzled-looking young man in front of him.

The older man could tell Aidan had been in a rush to get ready this morning from his sloppy choice of a pair of crumpled jeans and an equally crumpled collared tee. Not only that, the tips of Aidan's honey-blond locks were still damp from the shower. Judging from the bags under his eyes, he lacked much-needed sleep, but the alertness and excitement in those ocean-blue eyes were what caught Robert's attention.

"You found something," the professor said with conviction.

The younger man handed him the printouts. "Robert, look at the results!" Aidan couldn't keep the elation out of his voice. "The drug didn't just halt the onset of neuronal cell degeneration. It actually stimulated neuro-regeneration! I have never seen such conclusive results before in any previous research elsewhere. This could be the jackpot to restoring cognitive function in patients with dementia!"

Robert leaned back in his chair, a small smile lifting the edges of his lips as he studied the papers. "I knew it would work," he said softly.

Aidan ran fingers through messy blond hair as his mind began racing, "We'll need to do more tests, and we're not even at the preclinical trial stage, but I'm feeling hopeful already." But as he watched Robert leaf through the pages, he was taken aback by how nonchalant the older man seemed by the results, almost as if it was expected.

Was this not the first time the experiment was done? Slowly, Aidan's mood began to level off from its earlier high. He realised he didn't know much about the drug other than its vague name, V-01. Robert hadn't bothered explaining much else, and Aidan hadn't thought to ask.

He figured now was as good a time to start. "You haven't explained the details of this drug. Are you going to tell me more about it now?"

Robert's piercing gaze narrowed as he gave the young man an oddly calculative look, which in turn made Aidan's stomach feel queasy. "The origins of the drug are rather complicated," he finally replied, sending Aidan's thoughts into freefall.

'Complicated? What the hell does he mean?' The blond man raked his brains for answers but could only think of one possibility. Could it be that the chemical properties of the drug were illegally obtained by the government through covert means?

Aidan was distraught. He prided himself on being as upright and honest as he possibly could. However, if the drug had been obtained by ill-gotten means, then Aidan had unwittingly participated in intellectual theft. No matter the drug's potential benefits, stealing it from someone else's hard work was just unthinkable to him.

He couldn't hide his unhappiness as he addressed the professor, "Robert...."

"It's not stolen," the older man replied with a smile, predicting the direction Aidan's train of thought would take. "It's much more complicated than that, I'm afraid."

Seeing Aidan look even more perplexed, Robert quickly said, "Meet me here at eight o'clock tonight. There's something I need to show you so that everything will make sense."