The Dreamer Trilogy: Book One

Introduction

There isn’t much to do here in this laboratory. Eat, sleep, and test. Those three things are the making of my life, whether I like it or not. I don’t remember arriving here or ever seeing “Outside”; Whatever that is. The Serpents tell us the only way out of this facility is to dream our way out. The Serpents are the higher graded people in this place; They even have their own rooms. They score the highest on the tests and get special treatment, leaving the rest of us in their dust. For some, the talent comes naturally; For others, it has to be acquired through hard work. I’ve been here almost my entire life, at least, the life I can remember. There are around two thousand people in this place (At least that’s what they tell us), ages ranging from six to sixty. When I refer to “Them” I’m referring to the Overseers. The Overseers watch over all of us, like vultures waiting to devour their prey. We don’t know much about them, but we see them roaming the facility daily. They never speak to us unless they have a message from the Guild. The Guild is in charge of the schedule routines and the general working order of everything that goes on here. We’ve never seen the guild, but they have seen us everywhere; There are cameras covering every inch of this place, even in the bathrooms. When I refer to “Us” I’m referring to the test subjects. The people here in the facility for testing and dreaming; Which are kind of the same thing. You see, in here the tests aren’t just like an entrance exam, they’re more like things that need to be accomplished or else punishment will ensue. At the end of the day we sleep, but instead of having a good night’s sleep we have to dream. Dreaming is the power needed for this society to function, sort of like needing batteries for a flashlight. The dreams are our tests, which we take daily; Whether you pass or fail is up to the Guild. The weird part about the tests is you don’t know you’re taking them. You just fall asleep and when you wake up, you know if you can live another day. They won’t tell us why they need dreams or why they’re keeping us here. But one day, they will have to tell us. One day there will be someone that stands up to the guild and insues the revolution. Sadly enough, today is not that day; And I can only hope that there will be someone that comes to save us. My days here are pretty normal, although it’s rare to have a unique day in this place. Everyone wakes up in the same building, lives in the same place, sees the same people over and over. It gets boring really, sometimes people will even go insane and the Overseers will take them to “The Room”. The Room is a place where the Overseers take anyone who loses their mind or acts out of place, but no one has ever gotten out, which adds suspicion. I’m Roger, by the way. I don’t know my last name, and neither does anyone else that lives in the facility. We all go by first name, and if there are duplicates we call them by number; For example: “Dave1” and “Dave2”. Thankfully, I’m the only Roger here, but someday someone will come along and I will have to add a “1” to my name. People get dropped off here a lot, more than twice a week; With each group containing anywhere between two and twenty people. They are automatically placed at the bottom level of the building, same as where I am now. I got here about a year ago, except most of the people on this level have only been here for a week. I guess I’m just slow to rank up; Not to mention I don’t usually follow their rules. As fun as “Don’t stay up late, No running in the halls, and Work hard to test well” sounds, I just don’t picture myself in a higher level. There are 5, each consisting of a different test scores. The Bottom is where I am currently placed, and the highest level is The Specialized. The three levels in-between are Amateur, Skilled, and High Performance. The Bottom houses the most people at the moment, but the Guild upgrades a few people daily. The Specialized level is the second greatest in population, holding around 700 students. Since I’ve never seen the Outside, I can only imagine how beautiful it must be. No white walls covering the scenery, no automated drinking systems, and most importantly, no people. Don’t get me wrong, I like a select few of the other students here, but most are just jerks in The Specialized level. People have talked about overthrowing the Guild and the levels, but no one has actually had the guts to do it. Tomorrow is a new day with new possibilities, so I might as well get some rest. Maybe tonight they won’t record my dreams.