REM // Van McCann

31. No Way to Continue

When you've worked with someone long enough, you start to recognize their habits and know when something's off. Today was one of those days. Bondy was stressed because his code was complete and we had to test it. Our sponsor was pleased with our progress and wanted us to push ourselves even further. Although the sponsor meant no harm, Bondy felt the pressure in having to deliver on his promises. He had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and his tea was black with no milk or sugar.

He had called a meeting first thing in the morning to explain the plan for today. I was stressed as it is, hosting Roman's first session later this afternoon. This was the last thing I needed but luckily, he had things under control and didn't need my help. What he needed most was for his code to work which is something I can't help with as I've been hands-off for the most part. As soon as Larry arrived, we met at the usual place by the whiteboard.

"Thanks for meeting on such short notice," Bondy started. "I managed to finalize the code last night and want to test it as soon as possible. I was gonna have the both of you go under if that's alright so I can monitor how it's going." I looked at Larry and he nodded, knowing that we'd be going under his dream.

"My goal is to manipulate your dream externally using the software I wrote. I hope that whatever I type in makes an appearance in your dream. It can be anything—an item, a concept, or a person. The only catch is that I'm not gonna tell you what it is until you wake up in fear of influencing your dreams," he continued.

My eyes widened when person was mentioned. An item and concept makes sense but a person? How will the software know who this person is? Bondy noticed our surprised expressions.

"The person bit is surprising, innit?" he asked, grinning. "That's why this code took so fucking long to write! Celebrities are easy because of facial recognition but ordinary people like us are much harder. My code only works on celebrities so far."

"Class that," I replied, uncrossing my legs. "Can I request Ewan McGregor?" Bondy chuckled, shaking his head.

"It doesn't work like that!"

I feigned disappointment and let him continue. He told us we'll be under for half an hour and to not treat it differently but how can you not? We'll be wondering what he's up to.

-

When I opened my eyes, I was in a house I didn't recognize. It wasn't someone's home as the house was far too ornate for that. It was more like a manor for people to host extravagant parties but the house was quiet. I crept through the hallway studying the portraits of noble people on the wall, none of which I recognized and then I heard faint voices.

The voices reverberated off the walls, creating the illusion that the voices were nearby, but the manor is large and deceiving. Still thinking about Bondy's addition to the dream, I studied the portraits just in case I would be tested on my memory. I've not heard of these people before so their names were quickly forgotten.

In my mind, I was wondering if it was better to tell us what he's adding or to make us guess. I get that he doesn't want to tell us because that's all we'll focus on and we might accidentally conjure it up ourselves. But telling us he was adding something but not saying what was making us paranoid. My senses were tuned to take in everything which overwhelmed my brain. I didn't want to miss anything. And of course, if he didn't tell us at all, we wouldn't have noticed it.

The voices were getting louder which was a good sign and I could make out words. I couldn't pair the voice with a face though so my mind came up with an imaginary person. Her voice was very calming with a bit of a southern American lilt and she was talking about the idea of "us," making me wonder who "us" is.