We actually heard 'em before we saw the cracks. It began as a low growl deep in the ice. In seconds it rumbled up with surprisin' force. Freck's eyes were round as hula hoops. Her head was flippin' this way and that. Terror flashed in 'em like lightnin' bolts. The sound was so loud I thought a volcano was explodin' b'neath us. The ice groaned bloody murder like the whole continent was takin' a knife in the stomach.

Captain Bobcat screamed, "Get the hell outta here!" Our rope line all turned 'round ta run back the way we came. I fell and was dragged by the others. I couldn't get up. They were runnin' too fast.  I kept slippin'. There was no way ta get my feet back under me. I bounced over the hard lumpy surface like I was bein' dragged by a pickup truck over cobblestones. Then Freck fell too. It didn't slow the mad rush. Not at all. Pure panic powered their feet.

Did I feel a bone break? I was purty sure of it. A sudden jolt stabbed my side, then another excruciatin' blow to my knee. I was bein' busted ta smithereens. If I screamed no one could hear. The deep rumblin' groans was louder than a squadron of jet airplanes takin' off.

Freck was just ahead, flappin' 'gainst the ice like a flag in a hurricane. We ain't gonna survive, I thought. I was sure of it. All of a sudden the ice split. A major piece broke straight off. Freck and me was jerked to a sudden stop. We was over the edge danglin' by ropes. 'Gainst my good sense I opened my eyes. There was nothin' beneath me. The white at the top gave way to light blue. The blue gradually darkened ta neverendin' black. Them excruciatingly loud noises continued, but they seemed to be slowly creepin' away, like thunder movin' with a storm. I screamed, "Freck!" as loud as I could. I don't think she heard me. We was swayin' back and forth like a two kid pendulum over the gigantic abyss.

Then I woke up.

◽️◽️◽️

My stomach hurt. I flew off the bed, ran to the bathroom, and puked enough to fill a silo. I knelt on the floor with my head hung over the bowl until the spasms finally slowed.

Bright-gray, Gee, stood in the doorway lookin' sympathetically confused. "Was it the dinner?" he asked.

"Maybe. I don't know. Give me a sec."

After being sick like that ya have to rinse out your mouth with fresh water, or the taste alone would make ya do it again. I splashed my face. In the mirror what I saw didn't look like me. It was a boy with very blonde hair like mine, but his eyes was bloodshot, his lips was purple, and his skin was whiter than a lizard's belly. Too weak to stand, I slumped down onta the rock floor.

Gee called out ta me, "Are you okay in there? Should I call a doctor?"

I moaned, "No, is . . . Freck . . . okay?"

Without leavin' my room, Gee tuned inta her thoughts. Then he spoke ta me, "Wishes if you are feeling a little better do you mind if I go check on her in person?"

I didn't dare go too far away from the potty. I wasn't even sure I could get off the floor again. "Go," I told him.

It turned out Freck was just as sick if not sicker than me. It warn't the food. We both knew it was the dream. She shared it with me step-by-godawful-step. I didn't know dream sharin' was possible. Don't dreams come from inside your own head? Maybe it was like mind-reading. Or maybe, and this thought scared the heck outta me, what if it came from outside us, like what the sirens do? They get inta yer brain and make you believe anything they want. What if it was a warning?

I pulled myself up and stumbled into Freck's room. Phew! I almost gagged. The smell of someone else's puke is worse than your own. My eyes was waterin'. I hoped ta find Gee there, but sumpin' else musta called him away.

The breakfast bell sounded, but if there was ever anythin' less invitin' I wouldn't know what it is. The ringin' was bad enough, but the thought of food made my stomach wiggle, like I swallowed a coffee can full of nightcrawlers.

Freck called it, "I'd rather take another ride down Hawks Hill in a rainstorm than look at food right now." I agreed. The last time we did that we almos' died.

Freck and me was lyin' sidewise on top of her bed on our backs starin' at the cream colored canopy above. We was comparin' notes. Every detail of the dream was just the same—identical as twins. "Does that scare ya?" She asked me.

"I'm a quaking down to my ever lovin' toes. I think sumpin' very powerful is tryin' to tell us ta leave, and never come back."

"If that's true, Wishes, and it sure seems like it is, we has two choices. We can go home and forget about it, or stay and find out what it doesn't want us ta know."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"What?"

"It . . . and the fact that we don't know what 'it' is. If you understand what's comin' after ya, it'll probably scare the livin' tar right outta ya, but ya can do sumpin'. Ya can hide, run, or face it. This 'it' attacked us in our dreams. We couldn't fight back. We couldn't run, we couldn't hide. With that kind of power what else could IT do?"

Just then Gee retuned from breakfast. "That was mighty quick," Freck observed.

"The dinning room was almost empty. I was told that there was a flu bug going around. It appears you were not alone in your suffering. Everyone you saw in your dream was afflicted too."

Freck and I gave each other knowing glances.

She was the first to ask, "Gee do you know what did this ta us?"

"I have been mulling it over. I even called out to Grand Keeper Frank. He consulted their High Council. No one has ever heard of a dream attacker. Sirens, of course, can get into your heads, but this is something very different."

I speculated, "What if it is sumpin' the Arianni use ta keep people from findin' 'em?

"The only things we know about them is what Admiral Byrd wrote in this journal," responded Gee. "They are very advanced according to the Admiral. They may have ways of keeping themselves hidden that would amaze us if we knew. It is quite probable that they are indeed the source.

"There is another curious notion that bothers me. Why was I excluded? You know, I will always accompany you on all explorations. We need to be together for the purposes of using cooperative cigam. In this dream I was not there. Was I left out intentionally, or was there some other reason for excluding me?"

"Do ya think it's important Gee?"

"It could be very important," Gee said to me. "If they left me out because they were unaware of my presence, that would be useful to know. If they overlooked me because they dismissed me as an animal, that would also tell us something. If they did not include me on purpose, it could mean they are fully aware of me and possibly concerned by what I am able to do. Did they include you two because they think you are normal humans without any special abilities? As it is now, there are too many things we do not know. Any plans for defense we make could cause matters to worsen. It is a dilemma."

Freck asked, "So, whatcha gonna do?"

"First we are going to take this dream seriously. Then we will approach all our future explorations with great care. There will not be any headlong rushes into anything—ever. Every move we make from here on out will be carefully planned and executed. I will request a mind-mesh with all Keepers in the High Council of the Glades Kingdom and Top-of-the-World. It is imperative that we establish open communication channels going forward. I consider this dream to be first contact with Hollow Earth. Everything now must be monitored and recorded. Whether we succeed or fail to make additional contact is less important than what is learned."

"Does that mean we can go home now?" I hoped.

"Sorry Wishes, it means we have just begun. Unless we continue our search, your dream will come to nothing more than a curiosity. The very fact that you were dream-warned means they are concerned about us. The more they want us to quit, the closer we are to finding them."

◽️◽️◽️

We didn't go out ta explore for the entire week. Instead we filled the time with meetin's, discussions, and mind-meshes. I was gettin 'antsy. It was prob'ly a good thing that we didn't go out. A powerful storm settled in. No one wanted to challenge Mother Nature's ferocious icy power. After a week it blew itself out. By then we made some workable plans. At least we hoped they were workable. The problem with plans is they can bust apart at the first sign of sumpin' unexpected. Here at the Pole, I've been told that the unexpected is the ordinary.

I did some readin' up on electromagnetic interference. I saw a drawin' of magnetic energy surroundin' the earth. The lines came busting out of the top of the Pole, swept up, out, and around the whole world until joinin' back together again at the opposite Pole. It made the globe look like a peeled orange. Except, of course, magnetism ain't visible.

In Florida I have gone waterskiin'. I'm not totally sure that the electromagnetic interference works this way, but boats movin' on the water create waves. Since all the boats are goin' in different directions the waves crisscross each other. A skier goin' over those crisscrossed waves is gonna have a bumpy ride. It might even cause 'em ta fall down.

If it is like that, there is no wonder that instrumentation goes whacky. All those bumpy electromagnetic forces could screw 'em up but good.

I also read about sumpin' scientists call EMP's (electromagnetic pulses). Scientists knew about 'em a longtime ago. Nuclear testin' proved it true. EMP's, if strong enough, can kill any electric powered device: radios, computers, lights, telephones, and cars would all be toast. With a strong EMP the whole modern world could shut right down.

◽️◽️◽️

The dreams continued night after night. In every dream we were searchin' for the entrance to Hollow Earth. Sometimes we were flyin' in Ol' Grizz or one of the other smaller planes in the hangar. Once we was goin' by dog sled. Snowcats and snowmobiles carried us too, but no matter how we went our forays always ended in disaster.

The good news was that the more dreams we had the less sick we got. Once we understood that they were just scary dreams and not real life, they didn't have as much power over us. Freck and I still compared notes and our dreams were still identical. It became more of a curiosity than sumpin' ta fear.

Gee suggested that we write ever'thin' down in journals. He said that it would not only give us clarity, but Keepers and humans in the future would benefit by what we record. He compared it to what Admiral Byrd did. If it wasn't for his diary none of us would even be here.

We took Gee's suggestion and started writin'. When I warn't writin' 'bout what was currently happenin', I went back and started writin' 'bout how all these adventures began. If ya wait too long to record them, ya forget stuff. I didn't want ta forget anythin'. Who knows it might be important someday. Maybe someone will want to turn it inta a book or a movie. Can you imagine that? Someday kids just like us might want to read about what we did. They might figure that we were brave, or stupid, or maybe both. To tell the truth I'm not all that sure myself.