Insomnia

7

Tinsel. Some deranged pop star singing in the background. And the smell of pumpkin spice.

"Do you conduct all of your interrogations here?" asked Esme, settling down into the padded booth opposite Lucia. The agent snorted and took another sip from her cup, staring out of the window at a neighboring park. Lucia's face was a picture of effortless ease - not frozen but steady.

"I'm part of the Psy-Ops division. We can create entire worlds for a single prisoner. Let me assure you, my interrogations take place in much less festive places than this one."

The cafe was full and lively. The other customers were completely artificial but could hold surprisingly engaging conversations if prompted.

"Another reason why I don't exactly want to sign up with the bureau," Esme muttered.

"I'm exaggerating," replied Lucia. "There are rules and we follow them. We're not lone wolves. Like a certain someone I could mention."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Do you? Do you really? Because from what I've heard, you've been going around interrogating people about some deranged asshole no one's really sure exists."

"The Knightmare is real."
Lucia snorted.

"Well with a name like that, I'm convinced," she said.

"You should be. He's real. And he's dangerous. Look what he did to Atticus!"

"Atticus spent too much time dreaming, and it messed with his head. It happens to a lot of us. A few more months in therapy, and he'll be ready to come back to work."

"I don't believe this!" Esme exclaimed. "How can you just sit there and pretend like everything is fine? How do you explain the fact that seven different people have come forward, each describing the same thing happening to them?"

"Seven? There were only two when I last counted."

"Well..."

"You cannot be serious. You interviewed even more people?"

"I interviewed more victims."

"You're going to start a panic," Lucia shook her head. "Shared nightmares are actually a very common phenomenon these days. We spend so much time in Somnus together that you'll actually find a lot of people who have similar dreams."

"But with the exact same perpetrator? Dreams of being tortured, and broken down, piece by piece by this psychopath?"

"There are no other witnesses," said Lucia tiredly. "These crimes occurred in the victims' local dreams - their personal dreams - which are unhackable. This kind of thing can happen in a public world, sure. Some Psions are even good enough to get into a user-restricted private world. Hell, I've even seen some pretty bad hacks with corrupted Homespaces. But you can't just get into someone's actual dreams - their damn brains - like that."

For a moment the truth welled up in Esme's throat. She could show Lucia firsthand how easy it was for her to hack a dream. She could pry the disbelief right out of her brain. The woman laughed about the places she brought suspects - well she wouldn't be laughing when she realized just how terrible it was to be vulnerable, exposed, her mind completely at the mercy of an unflinching foe.

Esme took a deep breath. No. That wasn't an option. That would get her arrested and divert what few resources were investigating these crimes to prosecuting her instead. Just describing the process was too much of a risk. She'd have to explain how she was so familiar with the ability and that would lead to conversations about her other activities that were best left unexplored.

"I don't know how it's possible," lied Esme. "But it's happening. You can't deny that."

"I'm looking into it," Lucia said. "There are agents running down leads as we speak."

Esme bit down the rebuke ready to leap from her lips. If there really were so many people investigating this case, how was it that she'd already found four more victims than they had?

"I'm glad to hear it."

"And," continued Lucia, "this means you can step back from this case."

"No. And I thought you wanted me to be doing investigative work? Making the most of my talent?"

"I want you to work on getting a badge. Learn how to be a good agent. After that, we can talk about whether or not you should pursue... unorthodox cases like this one."

"I'm not waiting that long." Before Lucia could draw breath to reply, Esme continued, saying, "there's no law forbidding civilians from talking to each other. Asking questions about their experiences. And you can't ban me from Somnus, not unless you want to convict me on a capital crime." The agent almost looked impressed. "Yeah, I know my rights."

Lucia sighed.

"Alright. Fine. I can't stop you. Ask your questions. Pound the pavement as much as you like. Just promise to keep me in the loop. Especially before you do anything reckless."

Esme gave a begrudging nod.

"Only if you promise to take my leads seriously."

"I promise." She cocked her head towards the door. "Now go. Get out of here, meet with the 'Triumphant', or whatever they're calling themselves this week."

Esme laughed and allowed her connection to the dream to unravel. A moment later Esme was back on the sidewalk. A pity she'd have to break her promise this early. What she was planning was the definition of reckless.