Dream LI

I was on board the Jupiter II, from the old “Lost in Space” program, but it was massive, comprising several floors, and made largely of cement. With its stairs and metal railings, it resembled nothing so much as a giant parking garage.

Dr. Smith was putting up plaster heads on the walls, hanging them on nails that had been driven into the concrete. He wasn’t doing a very good job, though, and I was coming along behind straightening them or otherwise placing them properly.

One of them fell off the wall as I came near, and I watched it fall to the floor. As it did so, it changed, became a dark blue color and the expression became neutral. I picked it up, and as I held it toward the wall, it changed back to its normal appearance—red and white striped, with a sort of determined expression. As soon as I lifted it toward the nail, it spoke to me.

It didn’t speak out loud, but a voice in my head told me to take the plaster head down the stairs, all the way down to the bottom of the spacecraft. It then turned into a striped, rope-like object and hid in the palm of my hand.

I descended staircase after staircase, until finally arriving at the bottom. The spacecraft was sitting on a large expanse of blacktop, and outside it was a dark night. I walked along a nearby street until I came to a small group of buildings. I thought I could hear the sound of people having a party.

I went to the entrance of the building and a young lady stopped me. She asked if I had business there. I showed her the rope-thing in my hand.

“Oh, you’ll want to be with Luigi,” she immediately said. “I’ll take you to his table. You should be warned, though, that he’s a notorious criminal. He may have a test for you to take.”

I got the impression he was going to ask me for four words. The rope-thing projected them quickly into my mind as I was being led to the table, but the projection was so rapid that I only partially caught the first word—it was either “blood” or “bleed.” The young lady pulled me along, and sat me at an empty table. She told me Luigi would be along shortly. I was left with the idea that he was testing other folks at the time.

I asked the rope-thing if it could show me the four words again, but at that moment, Luigi came over and sat down. He was a rather friendly looking man, slightly overweight, with a mustache and a cap.

He asked me about myself, and I answered best I could. Food was brought, and we talked more. Finally, he left, without giving me the test. Unless, I thought, the conversation itself was the test.

The rope-thing remained silent.