Life aboard a flying megaptera
Monday night I had a very neat dream, and (lacking anything of real consequence to post here) I'm gonna tell you about it. Curiously, I wasn't actually a "character" in the dream, which presented a more straightforward narrative than the psychedelic trips that usually haunt my subconscious.
The story takes place in a world where humans developed a mutually beneficial relationship with a species of flying animal whose body contains several inhabitable chambers. These creatures look like huge blue whales that effortlessly float through the air as if swimming, and their presence is seen as a peculiar -- but not shocking -- aspect of everyday life. People aren't exactly taken aback when they see these cetaceans circulating among the skyscrapers, but the event is sufficiently uncommon to elicit "ooohs" and "aaahs" from curious bystanders that flock to windows and balconies to get a closer look. Their triple function as living quarters, transportation, and pets involves special looking-after that few people know, understand, or want to learn. My dream felt a lot like a TV series, with several episodes that explored life aboard these living airships.
The first episode was mostly concerned with presenting the whale's inner environments. It was almost impossible to tell that they were inside a live being! The walls were perfectly straight and solid, and the rooms were decorated as if it were a very fancy apartment. Several openings on the animal's skin had been molded in the shape of windows, which kept every corner of the living space well-lit and breezy. Nine people lived there (curiously, they reflected the nine classes in Team Fortress 2): a married couple and seven children/teenagers. The two adults acted as mentors and parents to the group, even though the kids weren't actually theirs. It was a mix between family, school, and orphanage, where youngsters could grow up and learn the ropes of being a crew member in a flying cetacean.
What followed were several vignettes from the lives of these people, but I only remember some of them:
- The Sniper was the oldest, and thus he was in charge whenever the parents were gone. There was also a "roll call" of sorts every morning, after which he gathered the other kids in the living room to give them classes and lectures about common school topics. He was aided by a large TV tuned into an educational channel, created specifically for this kind of home schooling.
- Because the airship spends most of its time above the clouds, its chambers are extremely well-lit. This favors the growth of a plant called venomous tentacula, whose thorny white vines are poisonous and cause extremely painful allergic reactions. It was the Pyro's job to keep these weeds in check, using a long metal instrument with an incandescent tip that could burn the sprouts before they developed.
- The whale's body has an extensive drainage system, repurposed by the human inhabitants into sewage disposal and water distribution. Periodically, the beast descends to sea level to drink and eliminate its various excretions (which is rather convenient; I imagine flying megapterae would be a lot less popular if their presence were associated with drizzling waste matter). That's when the creature is vulnerable to attack by a lamprey-like parasite that attaches itself to the pores and injects its eggs in the whale's vascular system. The Engineer and the Spy focused on learning how to eliminate the larvae from their living airship, using a gadget that drew them out, stunned them, and identified them. The Engineer had to use a rubber glove over his right hand to protect his skin from the poison of larger larvae, which caused swelling and itching.
- The series wasn't without its moments of drama... When he built living quarters in the whale's body, the Soldier (who was the captain and "team dad") had left several breaches in its body. His carelessness became a source of trouble when the crew navigated through a swarm of bug/bird creatures (suspiciously similar to little paper airplanes), which could invade the inner space and wreak havoc on both the humans and their host. It was an intense episode, wherein the crew ran around the ship trying to seal the breaches while the whale tried to dodge clouds of insects. After the crisis was over, the Soldier apologized to everyone and promised he wouldn't screw up like that again.
- The final episode saw the two oldest apprentices leaving the family to follow their own paths. The Sniper joined a new crew, who lacked the whale-handling experience necessary to acquire an animal of their own, while the Demoman simply chose to see where life would take him. The scene was definitely inspired by Toy Story 3's ending, wherein a family mourns the departure of old members while wishing them luck on their endeavors.
And that's when I woke up. I really liked this dream! Even though it left a few unanswered questions (Who was the "team mom," since there are no women in the TF2 lineup? How did the crew support themselves? Where did they get food and money? What was the extent of their control over the whale's movements? How did that beast manage to fly, anyway?), it presented an interesting and structured story with a satisfying closure, much better than any other dream I've ever had.