05 08 00

night fright

I dream in Technicolor and full THX Dolby surround sound.

Last night I had another one of my Dreams, the ones with a plot and a sound track. I was on a space ship, which looked rather like a wood cabin. We had landed on a hostile planet - huge winds and snow swept the surface. It was cold, and it was dark.

There was something very special and very fragile about the EVA suits we had to wear. For the life of me I can't remember exactly what it was. The end result of this fragility, however, was that the suits could only be worn a few times, and they had to be treated with the utmost care and consideration.

Another astronaut and I had to exit our ship and walk about a mile through the snow to reach an outpost that had been abandoned. It was a rather frightening experience, since the astronaut with me kept emphasizing how fragile our suits were. Finally, we made slogged our way to the outpost, which looked like another wood cabin. We fixed... something electrical, with wires and stuff... before exiting the outpost and

shift

walked out into a bright sunny beach. A boat was coming in for a landing, and my very fragile suit was itching me. Beautiful people were climbing off the boat, running through the surf, and generally having a great time. They were throwing beachballs around, and I wanted to join them so badly...

But my mission commander insisted that we only stand there in the sun, the hot sun, on that hot beach, and watch these beautiful people play. He said that we had no "third mothers" and that we weren't worthy of even looking at these people; we should be grateful that they allowed us to stay.

But the lure of the cool surf was too much for me... I needed to swim. I stepped into the water, letting it swish around the feet of my fragile suit. The beautiful people were smiling at me, and I smiled back. They wanted me to play! A shout from shore caught my attention, however, and I turned my head

shift

looking for the demon that was following me. The snow was getting deeper, but the gravity had decreased to the point where I could "bounce" my way across the drifts. It was tiring, though, and I knew that the... whatever it was... was getting closer.

The light on my suit's helmet caught footprints in the snow. They looked like long, thin bootprints, always side by side as if the person had been hopping like a bunny. The sight of these footprints filled me with dread. I bounced onwards through the howling wind.

I felt cold; my suit was deteriorating. I saw the outpost up ahead, its windows darkened. I crept forward as slowly as I could, all my senses alert. The wind had stopped, and it was dead quiet except for the crunching of the snow beneath my boots.

The door was unlocked, and I let myself in. Then I realized why it was unlocked - something had broken off the locking mechanism. I needed a screwdriver to close the door securely.

Hunting around in the darkness of the outpost, I found a screwdriver. But when I opened the door slightly to fix the lock, I saw it moving in the dark. It was coming closer. It would be at the door in a few seconds... I fumbled with the screwdriver, trying to fit it in the lock...

Slam. Lock. I was safe. And I heard it screaming outside in fury...

wake

Curiously, I didn't wake with a beating heart or sweaty palms. I felt as though I'd been to a scary movie that hadn't really affected me. Sure, the movie was scary, but I didn't take that fright home with me.

Quit-o-meter

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