Insomnia

27

"Can you believe that they're trying to put surveillance on private dreams?" Esme steamed, furiously spooning her yogurt. "I would have expected so much better from Minerva. Can you believe that girl is supporting this?"

"Esme, I'm trying to embody the face and soul of a man in agony," Oz said from the ground, bound hand in foot in chains. "You're making it hard for me to get into character." He sighed. "And why are you eating yogurt? You're asleep, it's not nourishing you."

"It relaxes me, okay?" she mumbled through her mouthful. "I like the taste." He raised a quizzical eyebrow. Esme shrugged before dismissing the chains and helping him back up to his feet. It had been a few days since her meeting with the married Omens. Oz and she had been practicing their performance for the Heralds, which would take place the following night.

"It's not a real regulation," Oz said placatingly. "They're called Somnus Resolutions. It's basically a glorified petition. Signatures for yes, and signatures for no. It doesn't have any real legal weight." A furrowed brow. "Did you seriously not know how that works?"

Esme harrumphed before conjuring up a tea tray and chairs for them to sit. They were gathered in a replica of her Homespace. The bluebonnets tickled her calves as she sat down and raised a cup to her lips. "I don't really follow politics."

"It's not politics, Esme." Oz said, taking the seat opposite her. "It's basic civics."

"I was always busy with work. I never really had to pay attention to that stuff."

"The curse of the professional. I've seen it a lot in my coworkers at Fantasian. They don't pay attention to anything outside of tech until it starts affecting them directly."

"I'm learning about it all now, right? Cut me some slack."

"Wasn't criticizing. Well, not too harshly at least." He leaned back, sipping at the tea before wrinkling his nose. "I'm more of a coffee guy."

A slight cock of her head, and the smell of grounded beans wafted up from his cup. "If you're going to call me out for my ignorance, you can at least help me fix it."

"Sure. Sure. What do you want to know? I mean, I'm not an expert, but, I'm not completely disconnected like you."

Esme rolled her eyes. "Alright. If it's just a Somnus Resolution, then how come they just happen to become laws?"

"What do you mean? Who told you that?" She sipped at her tea. Oz's eyes widened. "Esme. Esme. No. Don't tell me you..." Esme finished her cup and immediately refilled it. His shoulders slumped. "Esme, why do you keep talking to these people? They're the Knightmare's minions. They're insane."

"They're just people. Confused, people, who don't totally get what they're signing on for, but... I don't know, I'm wondering if everything they're pushing for is so bad."

"They're elitist psychopaths. You've read their manifesto."

"Not all of them buy into it! There are some good people in there too."

"Sure. Sure, I'm sure that's true. But that doesn't change the fact that the core of their organization is about hate!" Oz shook his head. "It doesn't matter how many of them are decent people. When the basis of their beliefs is this, violent, resentment... well, that wins out over decency everytime. Don't you remember the Disaster Death Cults?"

"The what now?"

He sighed. "Now you're making me feel old. I'm only thirty. Do you seriously not remember? It happened the first year after the Disaster."

"I was like eight, so no. Don't really remember."

"God, I was fourteen. Am I a cradle robber?"

Esme laughed and accidentally snorted her tea, before coughing it back onto the ground. She shot him an annoyed glare. "Shut up. Just finish your thought. You always go on tangents like this. I'm not sure we've ever actually finished a topic of conversation."

"Right. Right. Okay. The Disaster Death Cults were these, insane, organizations that popped up after the Disaster. Kind of like the Omens, except without the Somnus presence. They thought it was the end times and went around killing people to, cleanse the Earth or something, show their dedication to some fake god or another. It was confusing, there were a lot of them, not really a consistent ideology. Just doom and gloom and death."

"What's your point?"

"My point, is that those were decent people tied together by a really messed up way of thinking. Even the ones who just believed in the more basic tenets, did the - prayers, or whatever. They got sucked in too, and ended up doing some really bad things." His breathing quickened as he spoke, and his face was flushed. Blood dripped off of one of his fingers. Something clicked in Esme's head.

"Oz, your dad... is that why he's in--"

"I-I really don't want to talk about it. Sorry. I thought I could talk about it. But... Sorry."

"Okay. It's okay." There was a quiet silence. He looked away. Esme cleared her throat and adjusted her posture. "So. Somnus Resolutions. They're not actual laws?"

Oz sighed in relief. He turned back to face her. His smile was tight and worn. But it was still a smile, at least. "No. I get why some people think they are though. The legislature will end up responding to the results of the resolution in some way. Laws are named after them. But the actual substance of the law is almost always more complicated than the original text of the Resolution. It's usually a compromise between both sides."

"That doesn't sound so bad. Pretty reasonable, actually."

"It works, generally."

"I'm kind of embarrassed now," Esme said. "How didn't I see that there was a political angle to all of this?"

"Well, the Omens are first and foremost a socio-religious whatchit. We never found that much of the political stuff online, remember? Political strategy is probably only for formal members."

Esme considered the statement. If that was the case, then their real motivation was political mobilization. It explained why Vermillion said all of those Omens were angry at Minerva. She was the face of private dream surveillance.

"But how much influence does the Triumvirate have? And competitively ranked Psions too?"

"A lot. Too much, honestly. Sure, an influencer's followers won't always vote exactly the way they want them to, but enough of them do that it makes a difference."

"How does Fantasian fit into all this?"
Oz frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"They administrate Somnus, right? They host the competitions that determine a Psion's ranking. Indirectly, they kind of run the show." Oz's eyes widened. "What? Is that a dumb question or something?"

Oz shook his head. "No, no. Not at all. It's a great question. You really hit the nail on the head."

"What do you mean?"

"Fantasian has always had a lot of power. Before the Disaster, but especially now. And our power is like you said. Indirect. By controlling the platform, we pretty seriously affect the outcomes."

"So, what?" Esme leaned forward in her chair. "Are you trying to hijack our elections?"

Oz laughed. "Well, I'm R&D. Election tampering is one office down." When Esme didn't smile, he sobered his face and raised his hands in a reassuring gesture. "Kidding. Kidding. Seriously, we don't do that. The real problem is the way we've contributed to the current system - the rankings we sponsor, and the Triumvirate. These are all ways that we unintentionally affect the results."

"How do you fix that?"

A shrug. "I'll let you know when we've figured it out."

"That's not a comforting response."

"Believe me. I know."