Dream LXXXV

I was in a large, multi-floored house during a holiday celebration. My parents were there, as well as many other family members, and lots of children. Everyone was in a festive mood, though it was noted that one couple--the Evans--had not yet arrived, and might not, because of the Screamer problem.

The Screamers were the small silver balls from the 1996 film of the same name. They were robots who wanted to slash people to death. If any of them got inside, the household was as good as doomed unless immediate measures were taken.


But we thought nothing of them, and had a nice party, allowing the children to have fun with video games and other toys.

As I was walking past a closed storage room on the second floor, I heard the unmistable sound of a Screamer's saw. As I was carrying a baby at the time, I didn't want to say anything for fear of being alarming. I found a safe location on the first floor, dropped the baby off, and attempted to warn the adults about the threat in the storage room.

But the party-goers were in too good a mood to listen to me. They said I was imagining things, and that I should relax and enjoy the party. I went back to the storage room and listened, but I heard nothing. Maybe I had imagined it.

I tried to rest, but every bed I tried quickly had a baby deposited on it, and I was expected to entertain them. I was growing rapidly tired of the babies.

Finally the Evans arrived. He was the president of the local university and very influential. When the knock sounded at the door, everyone was nervous, thinking it might be the Screamers in disguise. But the door was opened and they were let in. He seemed to be a little bit drunk, and his wife apologized that they were late, saying that traffic was being heavily monitored because of the Screamer threat this evening.

When the babies were all asleep, I went back to the storage room. Pressing my ear against the door, I still heard nothing. But I opened the door and went inside, as quietly as I could.

There were a number of dusty boxes in the ill-lit room. And over at one wall, I saw the Screamer. It was using a torch to burn through the wall to the roof, so that it could let others of its kind in to slaughter the whole house. The others, I knew, were floating through the air toward the roof.

I crept up behind the robot and grabbed it before it had a chance to stop me. I wrestled it into a "sleep" mode, then I reprogrammed it to repair the damage it had been making.

I knew that if the other Screamers came and found the roof unbroken, they would not have enough energy to mount a different attack; so I felt quite at ease as I found a bed unoccupied by babies, and sank into sleep.