Dream_World
With an eager look on his handsome youthful face Vertigo eased into dream mode with
minimal effort. Lately it was all he had done aside from attending school and
nodding out halfway through boring lectures. The dreamscape was fabulous. He
possessed power there beyond his wildest imagination. Almost anything he imagined he
could conjure. He could hardly wait to bring Mantra to this alternate universe. She
would be blown away when she experienced the future.
A vast desert opened up before him. Overhead a screaming blue sky rendered its holy
scorching judgment. In the past he would have altered this introduction just for the
sake of altering it. This time something forced him to lay back. Instinctively he
knew he had to let the dream take total control. When the little wooden house
suddenly appeared ten feet ahead of him he didn’t hesitate. It was the dream’s
epicenter and he ran towards it.
He entered an empty house except for one small wooden chair and a 15inch black and
white television. As usual this proverbial oasis kept out the desert heat. He sat
down to wait, and contemplate his relationship with Mantra. A smile slowly
enlightened his hard features. She was the most talented and determined cybernetic
engineer he knew. Either she would create a sentient cyborg or be destroyed trying.
In the dreamscape it would be possible for her to accomplish this in mere seconds.
The television blinked on suddenly with a most disturbing image. He flew up from the
chair, straight out of the dream..
They sat in the coffee shop silent, staring at the rain. People ran to buses. Dusk
groomed itself in the shadows. He spoke up again.
“You should come and see it Mantra, it looks bad I think it is real.”
“ I can’t leave my work, you know how it is,” she exclaimed. Beautiful bangs of hair
framed her Slavic features.
“ I won’t make the dream last forever.”
“ That’s just it, it is a dream, just a dream.” He looked grieved.
“ Well come then, you have nothing to lose, I will guide you.” She smiled and took
his hand. He smiled and stared into the rain.
“I am not staying long,”
They practiced rigorously for a whole week and then she was ready to experience the
future. He undressed and closed his eyes. She did the same on the adjacent bed.
They started breathing deeply, blocking out all extraneous stimuli, and concentrating
fiercely to enter the dream world. Thirty seconds later they plunged into a raging
river in the alternate reality.
“Shit we’re gonna drown.”
“Don’t worry I will fix that.” And he did like God spinning the planets on his little
finger. She gasped at the new desert reality. He didn’t smile or frown. He just
started walking towards the house he was certain that would appear.
She sat on the wooden chair staring at the television with a look of horror on her
beautiful face. He stood behind her expressionless, unmoving. They had turned down
the sound. You could hear the desert whistling. A robot dominated the screen. A
long electronic ray of red light extending from its proboscis charred Mantra’s flesh
beyond recognition. Later the lab erupted in a mass conflagration. The screen
became blank and he heard Mantra’s muffled cries. He massaged her shoulders and
waited.
She spoke without standing up or turning around.
“ I can never go back can I?”
“ No if you want to live you have to dream forever,” he replied. She trembled under
his touch. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. The television had awakened
suddenly again. Another disquiet. A man surrounded by hungry vultures in a vast
desert under an unforgiving sun.
Billy Jno Hope 2002
