Dream 1: [OPEN TO ALL]
He is invisible.
It’s not something that startles him. It is a fact. It’s like looking in a mirror and saying, I have brown hair or I have blue eyes or I am a human being. He is invisible. In a way, he always has been and he prefers knowing that people literally cannot see him to the alternative, which is that they choose not to see him. He smiles as he flits nimbly down the streets, poking into others’ conversations and joining others’ groups.
They gossip about people they don’t know, but he doesn’t care. He merely enjoys feeling a part of something, something normal that goes to coffee in the morning and goes to the bar at night and gossips. He does not gossip, but he does enjoy listening to it.
Sometimes there are things that are not quite right around him. There is someone being beaten in a corner. There is a house on fire. There is a person who looks like she belongs from another era, tottering about in her kimono, except she is most definitely not Japanese. There are creatures that he cannot place flitting from tree to tree. There are sharks swimming in mid-air. There is a girl on a bench, sobbing over her journal. There is a man slamming his fists into a building with rage. There is a thief being chased.
These things exist, he acknowledges, but they have nothing to do with him. He is invisible, detached from the rest of this messy society, able to exist wherever he pleases.
Then suddenly, he’s in Housekeeping HQ. It’s as if he was teleported here, but as far as he knows, this isn’t abnormal. Barry drifts from room to room and eventually settles in the snack room. He does not recall this room being here before, but here it is. He takes a cookie out of the tin and nibbles on it, then is interrupted by a voice behind him.
“That is not your cookie to take.” The voice makes it sound like this cookie is of the utmost importance.
He turns around. It’s Veda.
“How can you see me?”
Veda stares back. He is uncannily good at staring. “What do you mean by that statement?”
“No one can see me. But… you.”
“And me.” He knows it’s 00 even without turning around. He has no idea how she got there, seeing as she’d have to possess the rather unusual ability of walking through walls and tables to get there, but there she is.
“It is because we are cyborgs,” Veda explains. “We are equipped to look past the so-called supernatural.”
00 moves beside Veda. “Affirmative.”
“Oh.” Somehow, this isn’t as surprising as it should be. “But your eye.”
Veda takes off the eyepatch to reveal a robotic eye, sleek and new and completely inhuman. “I have not yet acquired a suitable craftsman to create a cover for it,” he explains. “This is merely to keep the dust out of the mechanisms.
All of a sudden, Barry realizes that they are not in Housekeeping HQ, but in a place that looks similar to what he could only imagine the innards of a spaceship looks like. It’s like a set straight off of a sci-fi movie.
“What is going on?” He asks.
“We told those at the door not to allow humans in for safety purposes,” 00 says, voice as quiet as usual. “Your invisibility powers are why you are here.”
“We should not have used humans even as guards,” Veda says, scorn in his voice.
“Why aren’t humans allowed here?” Barry asks.
“Because this is a potentially dangerous mission,” 00 supplies.
Barry raises his voice now, becoming irritated at his own lack of knowledge. “But what mission is it?”
Veda speaks as he strides towards the large computer on the wall. His eye - the clearly robotic one - opens up to reveal a plug which he then inserts into the computer. “We are testing the coordinates of this planet. We are not on Earth, however the area we are in is unknown. 00, prepare. It has begun. Notify Stellaris of our progress.”
“Stellaris too?” Barry asks.
“Affirmative,” 00 replies, fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. “Every member of Housekeeping is of cyborg or robotic status. You are the sole human being in our ranks. Perhaps our supervisor was mistaken.”
Veda is sitting in the corner, yapping incessantly. There is a single antenna sprouting from the top of his head.
The room jerks upwards, and one wall opens to reveal space. Little white dots turn to white streaks as they move. There is a green cat floating in the abyss, but he seems to be pretty happy about it. A sense of joy washes over Barry, as well as a tremor of fear. He knows this is dangerous, but he can only feel awe in the face of this vastness. Perhaps it's dangerous, but these people can see him. He's a part of this.
“Earth is too far away to detect,” Veda announces. “We must find the coordinates of another planet.”
“There’s a planet called Centauri. I think.” Barry speaks up, still plastered to the glass. “Ambassador spoke of it.”
He was homesick. He remembers.
“Centauri, yes,” he says, confidence bolstered now. “If we visit it, perhaps they’ll know where we are. And we should bring something back.”
The world spins, and Barry awakens.
It’s not something that startles him. It is a fact. It’s like looking in a mirror and saying, I have brown hair or I have blue eyes or I am a human being. He is invisible. In a way, he always has been and he prefers knowing that people literally cannot see him to the alternative, which is that they choose not to see him. He smiles as he flits nimbly down the streets, poking into others’ conversations and joining others’ groups.
They gossip about people they don’t know, but he doesn’t care. He merely enjoys feeling a part of something, something normal that goes to coffee in the morning and goes to the bar at night and gossips. He does not gossip, but he does enjoy listening to it.
Sometimes there are things that are not quite right around him. There is someone being beaten in a corner. There is a house on fire. There is a person who looks like she belongs from another era, tottering about in her kimono, except she is most definitely not Japanese. There are creatures that he cannot place flitting from tree to tree. There are sharks swimming in mid-air. There is a girl on a bench, sobbing over her journal. There is a man slamming his fists into a building with rage. There is a thief being chased.
These things exist, he acknowledges, but they have nothing to do with him. He is invisible, detached from the rest of this messy society, able to exist wherever he pleases.
Then suddenly, he’s in Housekeeping HQ. It’s as if he was teleported here, but as far as he knows, this isn’t abnormal. Barry drifts from room to room and eventually settles in the snack room. He does not recall this room being here before, but here it is. He takes a cookie out of the tin and nibbles on it, then is interrupted by a voice behind him.
“That is not your cookie to take.” The voice makes it sound like this cookie is of the utmost importance.
He turns around. It’s Veda.
“How can you see me?”
Veda stares back. He is uncannily good at staring. “What do you mean by that statement?”
“No one can see me. But… you.”
“And me.” He knows it’s 00 even without turning around. He has no idea how she got there, seeing as she’d have to possess the rather unusual ability of walking through walls and tables to get there, but there she is.
“It is because we are cyborgs,” Veda explains. “We are equipped to look past the so-called supernatural.”
00 moves beside Veda. “Affirmative.”
“Oh.” Somehow, this isn’t as surprising as it should be. “But your eye.”
Veda takes off the eyepatch to reveal a robotic eye, sleek and new and completely inhuman. “I have not yet acquired a suitable craftsman to create a cover for it,” he explains. “This is merely to keep the dust out of the mechanisms.
All of a sudden, Barry realizes that they are not in Housekeeping HQ, but in a place that looks similar to what he could only imagine the innards of a spaceship looks like. It’s like a set straight off of a sci-fi movie.
“What is going on?” He asks.
“We told those at the door not to allow humans in for safety purposes,” 00 says, voice as quiet as usual. “Your invisibility powers are why you are here.”
“We should not have used humans even as guards,” Veda says, scorn in his voice.
“Why aren’t humans allowed here?” Barry asks.
“Because this is a potentially dangerous mission,” 00 supplies.
Barry raises his voice now, becoming irritated at his own lack of knowledge. “But what mission is it?”
Veda speaks as he strides towards the large computer on the wall. His eye - the clearly robotic one - opens up to reveal a plug which he then inserts into the computer. “We are testing the coordinates of this planet. We are not on Earth, however the area we are in is unknown. 00, prepare. It has begun. Notify Stellaris of our progress.”
“Stellaris too?” Barry asks.
“Affirmative,” 00 replies, fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. “Every member of Housekeeping is of cyborg or robotic status. You are the sole human being in our ranks. Perhaps our supervisor was mistaken.”
Veda is sitting in the corner, yapping incessantly. There is a single antenna sprouting from the top of his head.
The room jerks upwards, and one wall opens to reveal space. Little white dots turn to white streaks as they move. There is a green cat floating in the abyss, but he seems to be pretty happy about it. A sense of joy washes over Barry, as well as a tremor of fear. He knows this is dangerous, but he can only feel awe in the face of this vastness. Perhaps it's dangerous, but these people can see him. He's a part of this.
“Earth is too far away to detect,” Veda announces. “We must find the coordinates of another planet.”
“There’s a planet called Centauri. I think.” Barry speaks up, still plastered to the glass. “Ambassador spoke of it.”
He was homesick. He remembers.
“Centauri, yes,” he says, confidence bolstered now. “If we visit it, perhaps they’ll know where we are. And we should bring something back.”
The world spins, and Barry awakens.