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Apr. 25th, 2008 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gone_byebye( The thing about dreams is that they don't really care about Earth logic. The Naked In Public dream doesn't bother providing an explanation for how you got to Times Square before realizing that you should probably consider shoplifting a souvenir pair of boxer shorts. The In Your School, Failing Your Exams dream never explains why the school has the authority to grab you and put you through finals again long after the fact, let alone why they're doing it with subjects you never studied in the first place. The Running Away Dream seldom bothers to give a reason why you're running from the horror, but starts with the hot pursuit already under way. The Flying Dream doesn't indicate why you can suddenly fly. )
( Well. Sometimes it does. )
( Ray's at Columbia, although the campus looks funny- there are renovations he doesn't remember, and buildings missing. The grassy spaces between the buildings look about right, though. Except that they're not covered in students, which you'd expect on a day like this. In fact, there's hardly anyone around. They're indoors, maybe. He's not thinking about that, in the way that you don't think about air, or about the absence of clouds on a sunny day. That's just how it is. )
( Although. Speaking of clouds... )
( This has happened before, so many times that he doesn't even need to think about it. It has a long familiarity to it, like tying your shoes or opening a can of soda. It starts with looking to the sky and wanting to check the clouds out up close. Then comes the running, because it's easier to do if you're already going as fast as you can. )
( Then comes the footstep that pushes off extra hard. )
( Then the one that lands on air. And the next one that lands on air. )
( Then, before physics can reassert itself, comes the third step, and the leg that's stepping on air is metal- cables and plates and sensors and servos, just like all the rest of him. )
( There is no fourth step. Everything folded first. The fourth step is a roar instead, as engines powerful beyond belief roar into life and he takes off into the sky- )
"Ray? Ray, wake up." Janine's voice. "C'mon, Ray-"
"Hngh?"
"Ray, the State Department's on the phone. Again."
"... thirty seconds," he managed. Snapping into wakefulness straight out of REM sleep was hard.
Half a minute later he still wasn't entirely awake, but could at least muster a semblance of coherency. Enough, at least, to recognize the voice on the other end of the phone. "Morning, Mr. Flaherty," Ray mumbled. "What's up?"
"Ray. Hey there." Flaherty's reedy voice was far too cheerful. Ray entertained a brief unkind thought involving an IV feed and a supply of Queequeg's Extra Dark Roast. "Listen, I know you're busy with the gameshow and all, but we kinda need you to change gears for a while."
"I'm negotiating the Atlantic swordfish thing with the Deep Ones as fast as I can," Ray said, rubbing the crud out of one of his eyes.
"No, no, you're doing great on that," Flaherty hastened to reassure him. "Fantastic job there. This is something else."
"Did SETI pick up a signal or something?" Really, it was the only thing Ray could think of that would justify an emergency call like this.
"Uh. No. This is terrestrial." Flaherty hesitated. "Are you up to date on all your vaccinations? We've got a doctor on standby if you're missing anything."
"... what?"
( Well. Sometimes it does. )
( Ray's at Columbia, although the campus looks funny- there are renovations he doesn't remember, and buildings missing. The grassy spaces between the buildings look about right, though. Except that they're not covered in students, which you'd expect on a day like this. In fact, there's hardly anyone around. They're indoors, maybe. He's not thinking about that, in the way that you don't think about air, or about the absence of clouds on a sunny day. That's just how it is. )
( Although. Speaking of clouds... )
( This has happened before, so many times that he doesn't even need to think about it. It has a long familiarity to it, like tying your shoes or opening a can of soda. It starts with looking to the sky and wanting to check the clouds out up close. Then comes the running, because it's easier to do if you're already going as fast as you can. )
( Then comes the footstep that pushes off extra hard. )
( Then the one that lands on air. And the next one that lands on air. )
( Then, before physics can reassert itself, comes the third step, and the leg that's stepping on air is metal- cables and plates and sensors and servos, just like all the rest of him. )
( There is no fourth step. Everything folded first. The fourth step is a roar instead, as engines powerful beyond belief roar into life and he takes off into the sky- )
"Ray? Ray, wake up." Janine's voice. "C'mon, Ray-"
"Hngh?"
"Ray, the State Department's on the phone. Again."
"... thirty seconds," he managed. Snapping into wakefulness straight out of REM sleep was hard.
Half a minute later he still wasn't entirely awake, but could at least muster a semblance of coherency. Enough, at least, to recognize the voice on the other end of the phone. "Morning, Mr. Flaherty," Ray mumbled. "What's up?"
"Ray. Hey there." Flaherty's reedy voice was far too cheerful. Ray entertained a brief unkind thought involving an IV feed and a supply of Queequeg's Extra Dark Roast. "Listen, I know you're busy with the gameshow and all, but we kinda need you to change gears for a while."
"I'm negotiating the Atlantic swordfish thing with the Deep Ones as fast as I can," Ray said, rubbing the crud out of one of his eyes.
"No, no, you're doing great on that," Flaherty hastened to reassure him. "Fantastic job there. This is something else."
"Did SETI pick up a signal or something?" Really, it was the only thing Ray could think of that would justify an emergency call like this.
"Uh. No. This is terrestrial." Flaherty hesitated. "Are you up to date on all your vaccinations? We've got a doctor on standby if you're missing anything."
"... what?"
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Date: 2008-04-25 05:14 pm (UTC)You worked above the theme.I have read and I can not make a word "dream".
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Date: 2008-04-25 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-25 05:59 pm (UTC)Perhaps, our world hides in itself the big mistake?
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Date: 2008-04-25 06:01 pm (UTC)Perhaps, our world hides in itself the big mistake?
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Date: 2008-04-25 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-25 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-25 06:13 pm (UTC)Human impression.
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Date: 2008-04-26 06:27 am (UTC)It's a wonder I'm still alive. x.x;
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Date: 2008-04-26 03:23 pm (UTC)1. Throw yourself at the ground and get very distracted right before you hit (I had just read So Long And Thanks For All The Fish when I first read about other people's flying dreams), or
2. Start running, and then push off the air.
Ray's flying dreams include the extra element of the machine because, well, I read Yeager when I was in sixth grade. From age 11 up through about when I started applying to college, one of the characters in the back of my head that I never wrote about, but kept around for self-entertainment, had the ability to turn into military aircraft and do everything the real machines could do, only obviously without a pilot. Throw in the fact that last Halloween at