Spider-Bots Rising

Chapter Two: The Center

The Center was always bustling. It was one of the largest dwells in the Dreamscape. Hundreds of thousands of dreams and reveries called it home. But its name, "The Center", was both a truth and a lie. The Dreamscape has no physical center. How could a place that is always expanding and shrinking have a center? But this dwell held the largest vision core known to dreaming, and that energy made it the natural heart of the Dreamscape.

The Dreamseeker wandered through the noisy crowds and tall buildings. Colorful slinkys stretched and bounced, chasing each other along the ground. The Dreamseeker passed a huge, yellow, three-storey hatch. Freshly grown reveries popped out of the chimney from atop the round egg-like structure. One by one they shot out and floated gently to the ground: a furry orange cyclops, a green blob in underpants, a beaver with the head of a shovel!

She saw two octopuses busking with a hat laid out for miraj. One had blue shaggy hair over his eyes. The other had only a strip of spiky red hair running down the middle of his shaved head. The blue-haired one played two electric guitars while he sang. Or maybe he was screaming in pain– it was hard to tell. The other held a drumstick in every tentacle, except for the one he used to bang a tambourine against his head.

Odd reveries and dreams jangled past her all around. But even among the many colors and shapes of The Center, a Dreamseeker's scape-suit always stood out.

The bodysuit was a lightweight silver fabric, easy to move around in. The suit wrapped around the Dreamseeker in many complicated folds and tucks. In some places it hung loose. In other places it was wrapped tight. It had many hidden pockets and compartments. In the right light it seemed to shine, even glitter. But at other times it looked flat, dim, and colorless. It also made no sound. No matter how much the Dreamseeker moved or shifted, the suit was always absolutely silent.

The helmet was perfectly smooth. It was completely round, except for the back where it stretched into a long point. The whole thing was made of a material like black glossy glass. The wearer could see out of it, but nobody could see in.

The Dreamseeker passed under a canopy of vivid pink and purple miraj trees. Their branches stretched so high she could barely make out their tops. Gazing up at them, she tripped over a small woman sitting behind her. The woman was perched on the lip of a crescent moon. She was made of wood. Her skirt was a cluster of beautifully painted wind chimes. She made a splendid sound when she fell over. Sadly, the woman did not seem to find any of it splendid. The Dreamseeker was just trying to apologize and back away when she heard a voice behind her.

"Ay, Dreamseeker! Heyo, over here!"

She spun around, happy to escape the woman's tiny wagging finger. A pair of ragged brown bunny ears were sticking out above the crowd and bobbing towards her. Chuck!

A moment later, Chuck burst free from behind a group of giggling umbrellas.

"Finally!" he cried, gasping for breath. "You ain't an easy Dreamseeker to find, you know dat?"

Chuck was a large stuffed rabbit with a green felt eyepatch. He had a dark bushy moustache. Chuck had been the Dreamseeker's very first dream, a long, long time ago. That meant he knew a lot about the Dreamscape. It also meant that his fur was looking a little shabby these days.

"Hey Chuck," the Dreamseeker said, grinning. "I wasn't hiding from you. I just got back from scouting one of those big spider-bot raids. All the reports are true. I saw it myself!"

"You went out there? ALONE? Looking for those buggy brutes on purpose?" Chuck yelled, his one eye wide. "What are you, some kind of a nut or somethin'?"

The Dreamseeker smiled. "No more than usual. I had to see for myself. It's pretty odd, that's for sure."

"Yeah, well that's exactly what I was lookin' for you for. The Council wants to talk to you. About that very subject, in fact."

"The Council? Me?"

"No, not you, the other nitwit in a scape-suit I've been chasing around all day. Yeesh." Chuck rolled his eye.

"What do they want with me?" the Dreamseeker asked, surprised.

"You think they tell me anything?" Chuck replied. "They just said it was somethin' about the raids. And to go and get you lickety split. Like I'm their little errand boy or somethin'! Bunch a creepy, snooty snots they are... ANYWAY, here I am and here you are. Let's go find out what in the heck they want."