Dream 275

The starship Enterprise (D) was called to a distant planet to investigate reports that the populace was "going missing."  Once we arrived, we received word from the planet that the report was incorrect, that everything was normal.  Suspicious, we scanned the planet and saw that the population was present, but not registering as life forms.  Photographic evidence showed people, walking about in normal routines, but they were clearly artificial--their faces were crude and indistinct, and some of them were clearly malformed--they had wrenches and other tools embedded in their heads.  They would not have fooled any normal observer.

We beamed down in an investigating party to determine what had happened.  The "people" we met were polite and welcoming but seemed incapable of providing anything other than pleasantries.

All at once, an old man in a floating wheelchair-like device appeared and urged us to follow us to his underground laboratory.  We followed, with the civilians offering no resistance in their pleasant, polite way.

Once in his laboratory, the old man told us that he was working on a plan to replace colonists with replicant robots, to ensure the safety of humans on hostile planets and at the same time, breed a race of humans capable of surviving in adverse conditions that would destroy ordinary humans.  But he needed more genetic material--"Ideal genetic material" was how he phrased it.

With that, he pressed a switch on his machine and he and Captain Picard were suddenly transported elsewhere.  Activating an emergency protocol, we immediately transported back to the ship.

Adjusting the scanners, we searched the planet for any signs of humanoid life.  We were able to filter out the androids and quickly found Captain Picard.  We transported him directly to the bridge.

"Get us out of here, navigator, warp nine!" he yelled, and we quickly left orbit, issuing a warning to Star Fleet Command to quarantine the planet.

Later, in my quarters, I couldn't help wondering what had happened to the original colonists.  Were they still alive?

Captain Picard probably knew, but I was afraid to ask him.  I remembered all those terrible fake faces, and I shuddered.

Dream 274

I heard the neighbor across the hall yelling.  I went into the hallway and asked what was wrong.

It turned out a stray cat had somehow gotten into her apartment and she couldn't get it to leave her bathroom.

I suggested that she close all the doors in the apartment except the bathroom, and I would open the outside door.

When she said all other doors were closed, I opened the front door and the cat shot out into the hallway.  I said "Hey!" and the cat stopped and looked at me.  It was a cat that I recognized from a previous encounter.  I went closer, and the car jumped on me and seized my arm.

At the same time, a small child from an upstairs apartment yelled out a name.  It turned out that she and the cat lived in the same upstairs apartment.  But the cat didn't want to let go of my arm.

Dream 273

I was living in the house of someone very important in city government--the deputy mayor, perhaps.

One night, very late at night, his young daughter and I were looking out of the back porch when we saw a sudden glow in the distance.  It seemed to simultaneously emerge from the ground and pour from the sky.  We both knew this was worrisome--we were certain that some monstrous giant creature was about to emerge, and worse, it knew about both of us and would come for us.

We knew we had to leave the house quickly.  I wanted to protect her, but we agreed we should split up and go in opposite directions to halve the creature's attention.

We started heading toward the opposite ends of the city.  I stopped and made sure the door was closed but did not lock it.  She went right and I went left.

After a long time walking, I ran into the girl's father.  He was very skeptical of my story.  We headed back to the house and went inside.

Out through the back door, there was no sign of the activity I'd seen earlier.

I was certain what I'd seen, and what it portended.  He remained skeptical and dismissive.

He and I agreed to go off and search for his daughter.  Neither of us felt she was in any kind of danger, he just wanted to make sure she wasn't doing something she shouldn't be doing, like spending her allowance on candy.  We set off, and he locked the door behind him after I'd pointed out he left it open.

Unbeknownst to any of us, though, the monster was actually at another part of town.  A huge tanker truck was racing toward the Welsh border, and a smaller car was trying to edge around it because the driver feared the truck would overturn and block the border passage.  Both vehicles were going to reach the goal at the same time.

Dream 272

I was outside of an enormous warehouse-like facility in a pleasant wooded park area.  Looking around, I saw through the trees what appeared to be a Dalek rolling along the access road toward the facility, followed behind by a large yellow industrial vehicle.  "How cool," I thought.  "Some kind of promotional thing."

It was about to round the curve toward me when it occurred to me that I should take some video with my phone.  For some reason my phone was thinner than it should be, so it took too long to take it out of the case.  By which time, the Dalek had gotten closer, and I began to feel uneasy about it.

I ducked inside the warehouse.  It was filled with various levels and rooms, and was very dark throughout.  Some people in the shadows motioned me to join them, so I walked over to them and hid.  They confirmed that what I had seen was not a prop from a TV show but an actual hostile invader.

The idea was that by going deeper into the structure, we stood a better chance of avoiding the Daleks.  I walked along with them, trying to find a passage to safety.  The way was difficult because there were alternating moments of pitch blackness, followed by a blinding light.  There was a string dangling from my pants and I worried that it might get caught on something, so I tried to grab it and remove it, but it remained uncaught.  Then I realized that my hands were nowhere my legs while I was sleeping--they were folded under my arms.  I knew now that this was a dream, which lessened my anxiety a bit.

There was a deep rumbling from the ground.  We thought the Daleks might have found us.  We braced ourselves for the attack, but it turned out to be dark blue tunnelling cars coming up from the ground.  They were filled with children, both as passengers and drivers.  "Nice ride," I said to one of the drivers, and he smiled and waved.  "Here, take this," he said, handing me a sheet of metal about an inch thick and a foot square.  "It's very effective."

I swung it against a wooden beam and it sliced effortlessly through it.  I figured it would make a good defensive weapon, though I realized I would have to be extremely close to use it.  I started to wonder just how many Daleks there might be, and if I might find myself in the midst of a group of them.

Dream 271

I had played a nice musical concert, and the audience were impressed and wanted to know a bit more about me.  I was very gracious and answered all their questions.

While I was playing, I recognized an audience member as Robert Fripp, the guitarist, and I mentioned to the crowd that that they would probably want to meet him, as he was much better known than me and probably far more interesting.  

I met him, shook his hand, and led him and another person into a chamber room.  There were already people sitting there, including someone I thought was a woman but turned out to be Peter Sinfield.

A man stood forward, his face in shadow.  "We need to make a band," he said.  I stood by while Mr. Fripp found a seat.  

Dream 270

I was driving to get to a meeting place, and I had to drive through a massive tunnel.  

It must have been at least 16 lanes wide, and I found it very intimidating.  The traffic was very heavy, and the lights were very vivid.  The brightness and the darkness combined made my eyes hurt.

A cop put on his lights behind me, and I pulled over to the side.  More late, I thought.  I waited, and gradually all the traffic left.  And it was just me and the cop.

I waited.  Eventually, I knew that I had to go, so I slowly eased back into traffic, and drove slowly past the cop, waiting for him to escalate.  

But he didn't.  As I passed, I saw his face was frozen with terror.  Like he'd seen the same vast dark-light cave that I saw, but he couldn't comprehend it.

I stopped, led him out of his car and put him in my passenger seat

And I drove out of the tunnel.  The first building, on the left out of the tunnel, was a police station.  

I pulled in, helped the cop in, and told them, "I saved this man's life, you'd better shred that ticket."

I drove out, glancing horribly at the overhead night sky.  I didn't know what else to do but drive.

Dream 269

I had been invited to a party with the folks who had been producing the "Star Wars" TV and movie series for some time.  I honestly didn't like the shows, but the people were very friendly and I enjoyed myself at the party.  I had done some visual work for them, but I wanted to fix some possible production, or matte paintings I'd done, so I used my hands and trimmed out some colors and edges.  

When I was done I asked if I could have some paper towels so that I could clean my hands, but everyone was having such a good time I was pretty sure they didn't hear me.  As I moved through the party, the paints on my fingers dried and I found I could easily peel them off.

When I saw the excerpts at the party, I was pretty sure they hadn't used any of my work, but I'd been paid and it was a nice party.