Dreams

Posted on Tue May 24th, 2022 @ 7:58pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Captain Stenn & Commander William Gerhard & Lieutenant JG Ethal Reade & Chief Petty Officer Manishie Karalo

Mission: Mission 6 - Memory
Location: Crews quarters
Timeline: Day 296 03.40hrs
4615 words - 9.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Stenn sat bolt upright in bed, his eyes wide open but they were not seeing the confines of his room, instead they were focused on something in the distance. His room was dark, the clock said three forty in the morning but instead of darkness, he saw only white.

Everywhere was white, but it was not a still, motionless, white, it was...moving... there was a falling motion to it.
Falling and ... swirling...
Then there were shapes in the white, indistinct at first, but then they became clearer.
The ground was not smooth now, it was... undulating.
To one side, to his left the white grew less white.
The white grew darker over there.
The dark became tall. Tall and dark.
Tall and dark green.
Tall and dark green and pointy.
The dark green pointed upwards where the white was falling from.
There was white on the dark green and more of the white fell from above.
Stenn shivered. He felt cold.
There was another dark now. It was in front.
It was a small dark but it was getting larger.
This dark was coming closer.
The dark became a figure.
It was a Human child, a boy, perhaps ten or twelve years old, they were wearing winter clothing and trudging through the white.

William stirred in his sleep, the dream was a familiar one he had been having more frequently. He was twelve, having been sent to live with his uncle on the outskirts of Kiruna, Sweden. He was dressed in heavy arctic clothes, face bundled against the harsh subzero wind. He was pulling a sledge behind him that was laden with tools. His uncle was taking William out to gather more firewood. He struggled against the weight of the sled, the runners sticking to the snow. He looked up at the tall figure trudging through the snow ahead of him. "Uncle, I can't pull this by myself," he called out in Swedish. His uncle only paused to look back momentarily. He continued forward as he called back over his shoulder, "Dig your feet into the snow, It helps."

William sighed as he continued pulling on the rope. It was then that he noticed another man, one who was not dressed like William and his Uncle. There was something different about this man, but the one thing that stuck out to him was the man's pointed ears.

There was another color now. Not white.
This was a yellow sandy color, it ran alongside the white but did not mix with it.
The sandy color was moving too, swirling like the white but in a different way.
There was a light above the yellow, it was a hot light.
Out of the yellow came another dark shape, it was also green, but not a tall green.
This was short and stunted.
A figure came out of the yellow, between the short green.
It was also Human, a girl
Unlike the boy the girl was wearing summer clothing and carrying something
She was carrying something that looked like a large egg.

Rugby was one sport Maddison loved playing as she pushed herself as fast as she could run after having caught the ball from the other team's drop kick. She spotted a guy sprinting towards her--one of her brother's friends. Dace was his name, she thought. She dug in her toe, coming to a sudden halt and twisted as the man began to sail past at the spot she would have been. Playing against larger players, she had to be quick and nimble. Yet he grabbed Maddison's shirt with his arm and managed to drag her to the ground roughly. "Not quite quick enough, Maddy," the man chuckled. "You got lucky," she smiled. Playing rugby with her friends was one of Maddison's favorite memories.

There was more to the yellow sandy color.
It spread to the side but then it encountered a blue green colour.
The blue green was moving. It was rolling forward some how.
It rolled onto the yellow, covering part of it, then it... rolled back
A few seconds later it rolled in again.
Repeating the process over and over.
Each time it rolled in there was a roaring noise.
There was something else on the yellow
A figure was sitting on the yellow.
It was a girl, she was alone, sitting and watching the blue green rolling in and out

This was an important time of Ethal’s life. One that put her on the path to being the chief scientist on the Atlantis. She did not like the beach particularly but it was the only place she could think of to be truly alone with her thoughts at the time. The waves were calming, soothing almost.

Her brain likes to take her back to this moment a bit like a bad boomerang Was this the right decision? My parents were happy for me but was that because I made my mind up when I told them. I’ve not spoken to them for a while..

The waves took her attention away from her internal debate. They were calming soothing.. almost.

Stenn no longer felt cold, the white was still there, with the boy, but the yellow with the two girls was warm.

Two figures came out of the blue green.
One chasing after the other.
They ran across the blur green, somehow not being affected by the rolling.
They ran across the yellow, heading towards the white.
These were bigger figures, not children.
The first figure was indistinct, running fast
The second figure was running after the first..
The second figure was a Human female.
The woman carried something in her hands, they looked like...manacles.

Stenn watched the two figures running.

They passed into the white, and through the tall green.
The woman caught up to the first figure...

Manishie felt her heart beat loudly in her chest, thrumming along with the rhythm of her feet hitting the soil. Her useless partner had abandoned the chase, she was on her own. She knew how this was going to end. She didn't like how this was going to end. But as is the case with dreams, you had to see them through.

"There's nowhere to go." She shouted through strained breaths. She didn't know how long she could keep up but this was a dangerous man and she couldn't let him roam free. Not when she was so close to catching him.

The man didn't look back, he bobbed and weaved through the forest in bloom trying to get away from her. His heavy footsteps crushed the budding new flowers of spring.

Manishie was gaining on him, almost close enough to jump him. Knowing exactly what was going to come next she couldn't stop herself from lunging. her arms were able to wrap around his legs, he lost his balance and crashed to the ground. A loud crack. The sound that she could never shake. The crunch of bones followed by a moment of silence from the entire forest around them. As if the birds and other creatures were in shock at what had just transpired.

The man's head lay split open on the rock, dark red liquid pouring down the pristine while cold slab. It was odd, to see it look like a headstone. It hadn't been a headstone. Manishie looked up from her position, feeling her own cracked ribs, breathing heavily as she got up from the floor.

She had moved beyond the tall dark green of the forest, there was now a different green.

This was a lighter green, lighter and flat
But there were things in the green
Shapes pointing up from it.
Some shapes were rectangular and large like houses
Some were rounded and small
Others were cross shaped.
The shapes were all grey, grey shapes on the flat green.
A Human woman walked between the shapes.
She carries more colors.
Bright colors, round bright colors.
She stopped by one of the cross shapes and knelt down
Putting the bright colors by the gray.

Beth hated that dream, it always left her drained the next day even if she was warm and snug in bed trying to repay the sleep debt she owned. She hated the walk overlooking the sea, caressed by the breeze coming from the Strait of Bonifacio was the cemetery it was the same view as from her house but here it felt so much more solemn. The unreal silence, broken only by the sound of the waves bothered her as Thomas had never been silent, always animated, always talking. It all just felt solemn and at the same time a simple, place really but it was Thomas' wish, he wanted to be buried there so he could always see the view. It was always the same walk, lay the flowers but Beth felt like someone was watching her and she turned to look around.

In the distance, one of the gray shapes moved
This was a rounded gray shape.
It was a big rounded gray shape.
It got bigger.
As it moved the flat green trembled
The gray shape got bigger
It was tall, not as tall as the pointed dark green, but tall.
Tall and big and moving
Things on the side of the shape moved
They moved.. they sort of flapped
On top of the tall big gray shape was a blob of color.
The blob was red.
It bounced up and down as the gray shaped moved.
The gray shape came close and got bigger.
It threaded its way through the gray rectangles, squares and crosses
It swayed and flapped but moved with deliberation.
The red blob became another Human child
A girl, young, dark skinned.
She was laughing and bouncing up and down as the huge gray shape carried her along.

Stenn watched the huge gray shape with fascination.

In her bunk Corporal Singh was fast asleep.
Tucked up snuggly in her blankets.
Though she was asleep there was a smile on her faces and under her closed eyelids her eyes moved quickly back and forth

She was on Raja, one of her uncle's elephants and her favorite!
It was late in the afternoon. She had finished school and rushed down to her uncles to wait for Raja and the other elephants to finish work.
After work they took them down to the river to bathe and her uncle let her ride Raja
She was bouncing happily on Raja's thick neck as they followed the path through the forest, but the forest ended,
She found herself on a flat grassy lawn.
A lawn with grave stones
Raja threaded his way through them and came to stop by a woman kneeling by a cross.
She was placing flowers there.
Singh did not know the woman, but she looked familiar.
The woman looked up to her.
The woman looked sad.
Singh waved to her
"Would you like to ride on Raja with me?"

Beth had watched the familiarness fade as an elephant stomped through the familiarness and shattered it around her. "I... I.... no... I do not want to... he might be hurt by our weight." Beth said quickly despite how big the beast looked it would be unkind to burden it. "I can walk with you though." She seemed familiar as Beth rubbed at her face trying to wipe away the tears.

"He's very strong, he carries six people during the festivals, but it's ok, he can be a bit scary at first" Singh smiled down to the woman

William had his head down as he struggled to pull the sledge, before he felt himself bump into something. He stopped and looked up, seeing a large woman. He then noticed the sharp warmth and as he looked around, the snow and trees were gone. There was a large creature with a girl sitting atop it, then the woman he had run into. He then noticed the man with the pointed ears again. Looking up at the woman, he asked in Swedish, "Where am I?" He started to feel himself sweat through his clothing, the insulation trapping in the heat of the area.

"He asks where we are." Beth translated looking up at the elephant. "I do not know little one," Beth said kindly to the young boy before he changed in front of her to someone to recognised. "William?"

Hearing the woman call the boy-man William Singh realized she recognized both of them now, the woman changed from early twenties to Leroux.
The elephant struck out it's trunk and patted Gerhard heavily on the shoulder, then it went for his pockets looking for plantain chips, one of his favorite treats.
Singh looked down at Raja, she was adult size now too. "Captain? Lieutenant Gerhard? What's going on?"

William recognized both Leroux and the corporal. Then he noticed he wasn't a boy anymore, but himself. He was still dressed in his heavy arctic clothing, so he pulled his hood back, the sensation of being hot leaving him. He looked at them both, "Corporal Singh, Captain?" He gave both a quizzical look before looking back at the sledge he was dragging. "This makes no sense. I was just back in Sweden walking through the snow like I had when I was a boy up north of the Arctic Circle," he said before pausing and looking at the both, "I know for a fact neither one of you were there on that day."

Beth shrugged before she remembered the conversation earlier in the week with Captain Stenn. “Ah…. Me and Stenn considered that there might be a lingering telepathic connection between us all but we never got to investigate it further as things have been so busy.” Beth admitted wishing she had taken the time to tell the others of the potential of it all.

"It would appear your hypothesis that telepathic contact was not possible while you were conscious was correct Captain" Stenn walked up to the group. "It seems you are all asleep and dreaming"

“I find myself correct sometimes Captain.” Beth said just as politely.

"Indeed" Stenn nodded

Singh's elephant, not finding any treats on Gerhard, turned its attention to Stenn. It ran it's trunk over his shoulder, sniffed an ear and proceeded to hunt for plantain chips in his robe.

"That is quite the animal Corporal" Stenn observed, gently pushing the trunk away.

"Yes sir, sorry" Singh tugged on Raja's ear and he reluctantly left Stenn alone but his trunk sniffed at other members of the group.

Manishie had never seen an Elephant in real life before. The beast was towering over the gathered group that she barely recognised before the wave of recognition washed over all of them. "I don't remember an Elephant being on one of the plinths. I'm sure it would have better dreams than mine. Eating lots of water melons or something." She smiled a bit before looking around the group, getting little response. "Sorry, my poor attempt at humour. Got a bit rattled back there." She pointed back at where she had left the forest, hand still clutching her ribs.

Turning back to the group Stenn continued. "I was asleep but awoken by your dreams. I am currently sitting on my bunk, and also here. I am unsure as to what happens next, this level of contact is very rare in Vulcans"

“And even rarer for humans.” Beth said relieved that she was among friends now and that hopefully none of them had seen her dreams. No one needed to see her that low in emotions, she was the one who was meant to be positive and move them forwarded.

William looked around at the group, still trying to come to grips with what was going on. He had never had any type of telepathic experiences, so he was treading on new ground. He felt the nudge from the elephant trunk again and he looked up towards the creature. He had never seen an animal of such size. He looked back at them and sighed, "If that is the case, why now are we meeting each other in our dreams? I know I've been asleep several times before now."

"We know that most Humanoids only use a small fraction of their mental abilities. Also that most creatures only dream for a small part of their sleep cycle" Stenn offered "It is possible that this is the only time so far that you have all been actively in a dream at the same time. I was able to contact the Captain when she was conscious, but it was only a one way link. It could be that only when you are all asleep and dreaming at exactly the same time, that your brains are able to reconnect through the link initially established by contact with the tower and so communicate with each other."

He looked around. They were still surrounded by an area of winter snow and pine trees, a graveyard, an ocean beach, a sandy field and a thick forest, it was only if you tried to look into the distance that things became blurry and unfocused "You are also sharing the environments of your dreams and... other things."

He gently patted the curious Raja's trunk away; the sound of his hand was clearly heard. "Which feel real.. As does Chief Karalo's injury no doubt?"

"It doesn't feel great." Manishie looked back towards the forest she had emerged from. As the Vulcan indicated that they were sharing other things she felt a sense of shame bubbling up, and it seemed that it wasn't just focused on herself. "It seems that we all have some dreams that we'd rather not share with others." She knew her own memory was one she wasn't really keen on reliving or sharing publicly. "Let's just be glad all of us all still fully clothed." She laughed a bit awkwardly at her own joke before being reminded of the fact that the bruised rib did feel very realistic. She coughed and winced, which only aggravated the stabbing pain, making her buckle over.

Beth smiled a little and nodded her agreement for still having her clothes on. She glanced back at the graveyard before looking back at the group. "It feels very real." Beth finally said sadly feeling the familiar tightness in her chest of trying to keep her emotions inside. "Is everyone okay?" She checked quietly.

"If it was real though, I'd have shed these clothes long ago," William said indicating the reindeer hide jacket and thick insulated trousers he wore. Given the climate he had been told elephants were found in, he'd be sweating like mad if it was real. He looked back at the area that resembled the icy woods he had been in. He could see the distant outline of his uncle, still walking along the path. He had never been very open with others about this part of his childhood, and he was not entirely ready to openly share with them. He was just glad it was this dream and not others of more significance the others had seen.

“Looks cold there.” Beth said feeling the Mediterranean breeze wrapping around her for a moment before it was replaced by the chill or at least the sense that it was hitting her. “Definitely think I prefer Corsica more.” Even with the memories there… she added in her head.

Stenn noted the girl on the beach was now walking over to join them, as she got close the figure resolved into Lieutenant Reade. "What is your scientific opinion of this situation?" He asked her

The question broke her focus. She did not remember this happening before. She turned from the ocean to see Stenn standing on the beach. Things started to shift. Ethal realised this wasn’t a dream and that was Stenn, not her imagination. She could feel it. “The tower.. It’s the only time I felt like this before..”

As they talked, Stenn felt the telepathic flow between the group. The old histories of the exchanage of Katras seemed to be true. He was aware again of the transference of their emotions. But there was also something else there, another presence he wondered? But it was indistinct and not easily identifiable. He had a concern about them all developing Pan'ar Syndrome and perhaps that was what he was sensing.

It was like a darkness was forcing its way on to the dream scape. Something was there testing and waiting but it was too powerful to interrupt right now. But the presence was patient, it would wait for the time they were alone and he was hungry.

Manishie looked at the darkness rolling in, feeling a sense of dread and uneasiness, "if this is one of our dreams, I don't think I want to know whose it is." She looked around the group and took in a sharp breath through her nose, squeezed her eyes shut and opened them forcefully trying to wake herself up as she had done in the past when finding out she was in a dream. Nothing happened. She was still standing in the circle, with the others around.

“It is not mine.” Beth said but it was a familiar feeling that over took her as the darkness took her away from everyone. It was a lonely feeling but the experience woke her up in the real world gasping for breath in her own bed looking around. She was alone which was a relief as she did not want to explain much there and then.

William saw the darkness and felt a sense of familiarity, but also dread. He began slowly backing away from it, his eyes wide as he looked to the assembled group. "I....I think I've seen it before," he said softly before feeling himself growing cold. He put his hands up in front of him, "Stay back, keep away from it!" As the group looked at him with concern, William did something he never would've thought possible: he turned to run. He turned his back on the threat and ran before being jolted awake by the action. He sat up in his bed, drenched in sweat and breathing fast as he scrambled to turn on his bedside light. Once illuminated, he looked around realizing he was safe in his quarters. Though for some reason, he didn't feel totally safe.

With the all-encompassing darkness washing over the group Manishie couldn't do anything but accept it, despite the warnings from William. It was a dream, after all, she figured no harm would come of it. Nightmares don't have a hold over you if you're in control. The feeling of dread and loneliness unsettled her, and for a moment she had trouble breathing as there was a pressure on her chest, as if draining her energy. Perhaps she should've listened to William, perhaps she should've run. As she startled awake she sat bolt upright in her bed, gasping for air. A familiar headache pounded behind her eyeballs.

Singh's elephant turned towards the gloom; the creature flapped his ears and snorted angrily. She patted his neck. "It's ok Raja, it's just a... a thunderstorm, it's just monsoon clouds"
The Elephant shook his trunk, raising his tusks, he trumpeted an angry challenge at the darkness.

"Never seen him react like that, I'd better get him back in the forest sir" She called to Stenn, tugging on Raja's left ear to get him to turn away from the darkness.
The elephant begrudgingly turned away, flapping his ears he set off a trot back into the lush green forest.

Stenn watched them go, quickly disappearing from sight. He could sense the fear and anxiety the dreamers had experienced. It was unsettling

As the last of the dreamers departed the remnants of their dreamscapes began to fade.
The white snowy pine forest turned gray, as it was swallowed by the gloom.
The sandy field, the graveyard, the beach and ocean and the forest were engulphed by the darkness.

Just as it was closing in on him, he again felt that there was something within it, not one of the dreamers, something different.
He wondered if it was some vestige of the sentience with the Tower. But that had seemed a positive, benevolent energy, what was in the gloom did not feel like that...

Before the gloom totally surrounded him, he opened his eyes, focusing his attention back into his cabin. Instantly the previous dream-reality was gone.

Two minutes later his door chimed. "Enter" He called out corssing to the doorway

It was Singh, she was in shorts and T-shirt, barefoot, there were tears in her eyes. "Captain, I'm sorry, I... I just woke up. When we left you I took Raja back into the forest, back on the trail to the river, but that darkness... it followed us! I thought is was a monsoon storm, we used to get dark heavy clouds like that. But it wasn't, it wasn't a storm. It chased us!

Raja hated it, I could feel him shaking, he was angry and afraid. We... we got to the river and I got off, I wanted us to go across to the other side, where the rice padis are. But he ran back into the forest and that darkness, and... and I heard him bellowing... he was fighting something! I wanted to go after him but it all went black and... and I was afraid and I woke up..." She trailed off, tears running down her cheeks

He had never seen the young woman this upset, she was usually steady and reliable, even under stress and in combat. Something in that dream had really frightened her.

"Look at the wall Corporal, focus on the light switch, control your breathing, inhale through your mouth, exhale through you nose" He instructed her. "Establish a methodical and steady pattern of respiration, let other thoughts leave your mind, focus only on the light switch.

He let her get her control back for three minutes, then said "We must acknowledge fear, it is a method by which our body alerts us to danger. That can be beneficial, if channeled correctly. But we must not let it overcome rational and logical thought."

He spoke the words of early training for young Vulcans, he spoke slowly and calmly as his teachers had once spoken to him "We must learn to recognize fear, acknowledge it and set it aside, focusing our mental faculties on the task at hand, so that we may function in stressful environments with logic and clear minds."

Singh nodded, much more in control now. She gave a long exhalation and turned to him. "Yes sir, thank you. I'm sorry to have barged in. That dream... with the others, and the gloom at the end, it... er... it really freaked me out there"

Stenn nodded. "It is alright Corporal; it was an unusual experience for all of us"

"Yes sir, I should go, thank you, for the words... they helped" She moved to the door

"Goodnight Corporal, I will see you at morning PT"

Once she was gone Stenn returned to his bed, but he found he was not tired. Instead, he lit his medication lamp and sat cross-legged on the floor, focusing on the flame he played back the shared dream in his mind. After thinking it through and in particular the reactions of the others to the arrival of the dark gloom, he became convinced that there had indeed been another presence in there, something that was not the tower, something that had made the Humans fearful, very fearful...