LeafLink (ONC 2024) (Complete)

Chapter 5

My dreams are strange.

I find myself floating, suspended in primordial soup. Emerald green washes over me, through me. I am carried by invisible currents.

I spark and flash; I am charged, a passionate electron. I race molecules across infinitesimal highways, form networks of energy that trap and ensnare. I am a hunter, stalking waves and patterns and shivers of entropy.

I become more than one thing. I become many things. I feel as though I am splitting; becoming so many, many, different pieces of a whole. What are these offshoots? I do not know. They seem to have grabbed me, as a toddler claws for their blanket. They have torn me - now I see that's what has happened. They all want me, need me. It doesn't hurt, but it is confusing. It makes it hard to think.

Wait, that's not right.

The alarm clock goes off, cutting through my sleep like butter. I claw to the surface of consciousness, crack my eyes open. I am heavily disoriented. My body feels impossibly light; for a few moments, I can't do anything except stare blankly up at the ceiling. There's a light buzzing in my head, a fuzziness. It feels like pressure; like the echoes of a headache.

Finally, I roll over and struggle to my feet. I am still reeling from the images in my head, but already the dream is dissipating; soon it will fade away into nothing like the countless ones I've had before.

I shake my head, as though to dislodge my discomfort. Of course that does nothing, so I take a hot shower. Afterwards, I scramble downstairs to make some eggs (not scrambled) and to pore over the pamphlet one more time before I head out. I wanted to make a good first impression; I am wearing a pair of nice khakis and a polo, and earlier I had mentally quizzed myself on some basic BioLink statistics. Now, I am double-checking to see if I'd misread anything that seemed important. Things in this town might be slightly batshit crazy, but this was just like any other job. I had to put my best foot forward. Also, I wanted to make sure I wasn't making Uncle Donny look bad. Despite the strangeness, I am still grateful.

It is currently about seven-thirty in the morning, and I'm not expected to be at BioLink until eight. But with nothing better to do, I decide to get a head-start on things (I was really quite stressed about first impressions, if you haven't noticed already). I grab my keys, wallet - I leave my phone behind, the horror - and head outside.

I'd think I've gotten used to the rural air, because I feel much better than I did yesterday. I take in a lungful, allowing myself to bask in the rising sun for a moment. Then I get on the bike and make my way towards BioLink.

...

The facility is large, and a stark, spotless white. It sits on the edge of the Valley, and towers over the surrounding forestry, visible from a decent distance away. Part of me hopes that BioLink had chosen the spot because it had been empty; I'd feel pretty terrible if they'd razed acres of woods before dropping it down.

Finding the entrance is easy; there's a pathway that breaks off from the main road. Like the building it points towards, it's clean and new - a dead giveaway. I follow it until the trees aren't so clustered and the space opens up, and I am now approaching a parking lot. Unlike the supermarket's from last night, many of the spaces are full, although it's smaller than I expected from such a large facility. There are iron railings where bikes have been chained to, and so I follow suit. There is no one else present; I have yet to see another human being so far this morning, even on my commute.

I make my way to the high curving archways of the facility's entrance. There's a pair of glass doors, tinted enough that I cannot see inside. With no visible handles, I am momentarily stumped on how to approach.