Dreamscape

Deep inside the furthest reaches of her subconscious mind, patient 23 and her companion were seated around a table made of reclaimed wood and drinking tea served from an enormous teapot with intricately patterned china cups. The room was sparsely furnished aside from the table, and was lit by torches burning in metal brackets attached to heavy stone walls. It was all very medieval, and neither of them looked conerned with the lack of windows or doors.

            “We need to discuss recent events,” he said, watching 23 carefully as she drank her tea, taking careful sips of his own.

            “We have not had the opportunity before now to get properly acquainted with one another, and you will no doubt have many, many questions,” he continued, jovially, despite the seriousness of the circumstances they were in.

            Patient 23 nodded glumly into her teacup, her eyes were still red from the tears that had escaped from her as soon as she had time to stop and think. She mostly just felt empty now and wanted nothing but to go back to how things were before here, but even then she had no guarantee that it would be any better because she could not remember it. She felt a wave of irritation rise through her at how he could seem so cheerful when she was lying in a heap surrounded by strange men. I’m always surrounded by strange men just lately, she thought.

            “Why me?” she asked aloud to no one in particular, but he answered her anyway.

            “You have what our kind calls ‘the affinity’. This means that we can form mutually beneficial bonds which confer advantages on both parties,” he said, and she put down her teacup as she listened carefully. “The benefits of the bond are many and the most obvious ones have been revealed to you or you have discovered them yourself already. Energy manipulation and my charming company are but the most obvious. You also now benefit from slowed aging, an increased rate of healing, and enhanced mental faculties.”

            “Oh,” she said, and felt unsure as to how she should react to the news. He was definitely real, she thought, otherwise how could she have done that in the corridor? Or on the door to the hangar? It was all a little too much for her, and she took another sip of tea to calm her nerves.

            “What’s the catch, then?” she asked, narrowing her eyes very slightly.

            “Catch? Oh, you are referring to the drawbacks of this process. Forgive me, I have not yet assimilated your slang. It will take time,” he said, seeming to blush as if he had done something rude or impolite, “You will become more like me and I like you until we achieve synchronicity.”

            “Synchronicity? What the-“ she did not complete her sentence but instead pushed back from the table and stood, glaring down at the man. “You have invaded my mind and now you tell me that I’m gonna turn into some sort of nonce from the eighteen hundreds?!”

            “I assumed the form of someone you would find moderately attractive and trustworthy in an attempt to make this easier for you. Tell me how you wish me to look and I will change,” he said with apologetic undertones.

            “That’s not even remotely the point! That, if anything, just makes it bloody worse!” she shouted, kicked the chair in protest, and then swore loudly as the pain hit her. She sat back down in a huff.

            “So how long have I got? A week? Month? Year?” she demanded.

            “The process of attaining synchronicity takes many years and is so gradual that had I not said anything you would never have known about it until one day I am just a voice in your head. Humans grow and mature as they age anyway, and you will just be getting a small amount of assistance in your journey to old age,” he explained.

            “What if I refuse?” she asked.

            “I am not sure I understand the ques-“ he began but she cut him off.

            “What if I don’t want this and I want to get rid of you?” she added.

            “I am afraid that is not possible now, you and I are bonded and the process is impossible to undo without killing me and causing you severe brain trauma. Death is a lot more formal for a being that exists in more than one dimension simultaneously,” he said.

            “So what are you, then? I don’t understand how you’ve suddenly appeared here and now you’re shacked up in my brain,” she said, and poured herself another cup of tea. It seemed to calm her nerves and settle her down, so she took advantage of that fact.

            “You are going to have to do some studying before I can fully explain how I came to be here, because if you do not know the vocabulary I require then it is quite impossible for me to explain the more complex ideas to you. I do not say this to patronise you, it is important to me that you know that,” he said, placing a hand on her arm and smiling reassuringly, “Your government has been experimenting with a weapon. They do not understand the full effect of this weapon, but they used it and something broke.”

            “Broke? In what way?” she asked.

            “There are layers to reality. I want you to imagine...” he trailed off, looking at her intently, and she got the impression he was reading deep into her, “Imagine a lasagne where each sheet of pasta represents a dimension. The weapon uses energy from one of these lasagne sheet dimensions and manifests it into the here and now. When it was tested it put a crack through the lasagne sheet and shattered the consciousness that existed beyond into pieces. I am one such piece but I carry certain memories from before.”

            “That…made no sense whatsoever. I’m insane, clearly,” she said, shaking her head.

            “Take some time to consider my words, I am happy to answer any questions you might have when they occur to you,” he said, maintaining his reassuring smile.

            “Wait…are there more of you? More of, well, us?” she asked.

            “Yes. The poor people sedated in the hangar are all like us, each one of them will have someone like me in their minds and will be able to do the same things that we can.” he said.

            “Is that all of them, though?” she said.

            “I very much doubt it. Those are just the few they will have managed to find and gather together, it is likely that some were missed. Some of my kind will have perished when they could not find a suitable host with the correct affinities. I saw it as my duty to seek out one of the strongest affinities to help guide him or her for what is to come,” he explained.

            “What do you mean? That sounded a bit ominous for my liking,” she said.

            “There are a couple of concerns that I have. The first is that there are shards of the consciousness that are not as disciplined or as scrupulous as I am. The second is that there are humans who would use the power we can give you for evil purposes and advancing their own goals. A human with a propensity for evil can be balanced by a suitable shard, or vice versa, but if a shard and human with a propensity for evil should join then we will know trouble,” he said.

            “But you control whether we have access to that power, don’t you?” she asked.

            “We control the switch but not what you do with the bulb once it is lit,” he said gravely, “Does that make sense?”

            She nodded. It was a lot to take in and as she reflected on the power that she unleashed in the corridor on those poor men it was clear that in the hands of certain people it could be very dangerous for everyone. Things were about to change, and her brow furrowed from worry.

            “I am sorry if you feel that I have burdened you, but this is going to become a large issue and I am incredibly grateful that you are so understanding. I know this must not be easy for you,” he said.

            “Stop being so bloody nice, you’re making it hard for me to be annoyed with you,” she said, and for the first time in what felt like ages, she was smiling.

            “I can live with your ire, it makes no difference to me either way. I merely wish for you to be able to understand the situation that you are in so that we can move forwards,” he said.

            “So what do we do now? I’m not sure if you remember but I’m a little worse for wear on the outside and I was bleeding everywhere. Oh, and there were a couple of guys stood over me so they’ve probably locked me up somewhere and thrown away the key. I could be dead, and I’ll be annoyed if this is the afterlife,” she said, pacing the length of the room.

            “You are quite alive, and those men will not have processed thought beyond their initial surprise at seeing you there. Time passes differently in your subconscious, I can stretch a second out to longer than a year,” he said.

            “Oh…” she said, falling silent, and turned back to face the table and the man.

            “I can wake us up whenever you are ready, just tell me when you feel comfortable enough to do so. Your body will have healed by now but you will feel weak so do not try anything rash,” he warned.

            “Alright,” she said, “Let’s do it.”