Where Our Dreams Go

Andrews | Chapter 10

It hadn't taken long for us to be given our first mission, but this time in a shiny new outfit and weapons. So many weapons. My pod passed through the shroud with no issues this time and I was tracking the latest lucid dreamer in no time, my heads-up display guiding me through the dunes. Harry was checking for the fifth time since landing that my equipment was working, not getting anywhere near enough time to comb through it all before deployment. "Again. Everything is running green like it was five minutes ago."

"Did you check the dampers are secure?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes. And the dust mines and the smoke grenades. The nets are within easy reach and all the other gadgets are good too."

"And the-"

"Everything is fine, Harry. It's all brand new and ready to go."

"What about-"

"All systems green means all systems green. Relax."

"Your breathing is a little heavier than usual. I'm just going to run-"

"Harry." I cut in, "I'm fine, the breathing is fine. It's just a lot heavier than I'm used to."

"That's because you took everything that wasn't nailed down, even with the added suit armour. It's like you wanted to suffer." Well, the scolding was better than a nervous rattle of words. She also wasn't wrong. I hadn't realised how heavy it would be after a mile, so of course I'd grabbed all the gadgets like some kind of space Batman.

"Sorry Alfred." There was a pause.

"You better not be thinking of yourself as Batman in this situation, because at best you're Red Robin." That one hurt but wasn't undeserved.

"Ouch."

"Hey, you referred to me as a crusty old white man in this situation, so you got off lightly. Anyway, you'll be coming up on the target plume any second." The image of a young woman appeared on my visor, leaning against a bar.

"Confirmed. Permission to enter the dream." Standing before the plume brings back memories of that hand pulling me in. I shake away the thought. "It was in my head," I say to reassure myself. "We need to get this right, concentrate." There's a sudden flicker in my visor and for a second, there's another person sitting across from her. I tap my visor and the second woman vanishes. "You see that Harry?"

"See what?" That protective tone returned to her voice. "Is it the tech?"

"Maybe. There was a second woman on my visor."

"I knew it! I'm going to trigger a reboot before you head inside, so don't panic when it goes dark."

"Sure, remember I need my permission." My suit shuts down without her answering, so I just sigh and wait in the silence again. Only I hear that humming again, the same melody and female tone. I must be losing it out here. "That you, Ash?" The humming just continues. Yeah, maybe I should take a bit of a break after the next couple of missions. I've started talking to dreams for real now, not just pretending I have company. I realised then that I hadn't given this dream a name yet, too busy fussing over my new stuff. Though now it feels a little strange.

My suit flickers back into life, and to my relief, the girl appears and she's all by her lonesome. Harriot's voice comes through again. "How we looking now? Your girl still have company?"

"Nope, just her, no flickers. Must have been a gremlin." Harry doesn't sound convinced and assures me she's going to do a full diagnostic when I come back as if she wasn't already. "Am I good to go in?"

"Oh yeah, one sec."

"Seriously?" Silence, then.

"Permission granted. Oh, and don't mess this up. I'm fully invested in our upcoming lavish lifestyles." Harriot chimed in.