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"Yeah, shared dreams." Nathan could feel that his own smile wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Luke's, although sharing a dream with him might be a lot of fun.

"Yelling at Ben didn't seem to do any good. Do you think they'd talk to us while we're dreaming?"

"Maybe. Has Ben ever talked to you then?"

"Well, no, but I've only had him for a week. Maybe he just needs some encouragement or the right situation. What about your pup?"

"No, Sasha's never done anything but bark in mine. For some reason it never occurred to me to expect anything else. But by 'situation,' I hope you don't mean something unpleasant. Dreams can be scary, but I doubt we could frighten those two."

"No, no. I just meant talking to them, telling them what we know and have guessed. Maybe if we're open with them, they'll respond."

"Maybe. It might work. I don't see how it could hurt." Nathan paused. "Well, maybe I do. What if they simply stopped dreaming with us? Like I said, I've enjoyed the experience a lot and I'd really miss it." Could he actually be addicted?

"Why would they stop? Wouldn't they want to persuade us not to expose them? They've done such a good job of hiding that there must be some reason for it. After all, we could just take them to the lab for analysis if they don't talk."

Except that they surely had a plan for preventing that. Maybe their PNNs would vaporize if they sensed the wrong kinds of radiation. But didn't one of the laws tell them to protect their own existence?

"It does sound like something we should try. When do you want to do it?"

"The sooner the better, I think. Like tonight. I don't think I could fall asleep right now, but I really want to find out if Ben put something in my head." Luke looked determined.

"Umm. Right. Where would be best, do you think? It'd be easy enough to clean up one of the spare bedrooms for you, like the one next to mine."

Luke just looked at him for a minute. Realization dawned. Oh, shit.

"You did say brain signals are extremely weak, didn't you? And embedded transmitters are going to be so tiny they're not going to be very strong either, right?" How nice of Luke to be patient with dim-witted Nathan.

"Yeah." Yup, that's what he'd said, all right. Shit.

"Weak, high-frequency signals like that probably won't be detectable after going through these walls, would they?" That's it, lead him step by tiny step. You're a coward, Nathan.

"No, probably not." The closer the better. Best with nothing at all between the four of them. Damn. "How about using these chairs? They're comfortable, and if we turn them back to back, our heads would be close." Nah, he'd never go for it. The Companions had to be close, too.

"I don't know about you, but I've never slept well in chairs, and staying awake would sort of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?"

"That it would." Yuppers. He probably shouldn't have done such a good job of brushing him.

"It'll probably take me about an hour to go get a change of clothes and stuff. Why don't you see if you can kick the masters out of their bedroom." Luke grinned. "I promise I won't hog all the covers."