The Dream Inhibitor

One: The Inhibitor

It might sound strange to you that I look forward to sleeping every day of my life. But it's true. Ever since the dream inhibitor was available to anyone who wanted it. You see, our culture has moved beyond money, or wars, or anything like that. We can basically have anything we want as long as it is beneficial or enjoyable for us. And I most definitely enjoy my dream inhibitor, especially since I don't have to share it with anyone. No one else in my family uses it. They say it's childish. But I love it. I can have any kind of adventure I can possibly think of.

Vrooom. The bus speeds away from the huge school building, where I take private classes. I stare out the window of the floating vehicle, my brain swirling with the new information I learned today. My private science teacher talked about the ratio of suns to planets with life on them and why it was important. He also made a point of saying that if even one sun went supernova, anywhere in our galaxy, at least three planets would have to be evacuated. It was a very...touchy place. I sigh and rest my forehead against the cool glass window. Someday I'd like to go into space, to explore and make scientific discoveries. But I can't even start space cadet training until after college. Which, might I add, is exactly what I plan on doing.

"Hey! Sam!" I hear someone yell at me from the back of the bus.

My full name's Samantha, but I've always thought that name was horribly feminine, so I tell everyone to call me Sam.

"What?" I ask, turning around and peeking over the water-insulated chair I'm in. 

I see a short, well-tanned boy who's maybe twelve. "Did you like learning all about how we're all gonna die from a supernova? Or maybe you learned about how you could get yourself blasted into space to save us all from the scary aliens."

I hear a few snickers from behind him. Even in our knowledge-based culture, there are some who disrespect learning and just being smart in general. Mainly the boys. Mainly the younger boys. Mainly the younger boys who go to the same school I do and I have to deal with five days a week. I take classes six days, but if you're lazy you can get away with skipping Friday school.

"We don't know if there are aliens out there. Not yet." I reply, not letting him get on my nerves.

"Oh, yes, of course. And you're going to find them, aren't you?" He sneers.

I swallow hard and forced myself to turn around and ignore the little punk. I like to think that someday drama will be erased from our culture, too. I hope so. I can almost feel the kid behind me, gearing up for another attack, but thankfully these hoverbuses move really fast, so before he could make another attack I had reached my home.

I practically bolted towards the door of the bus. The automatic doors slide open and I jump out. I look up and take in the view of my neighborhood. It was pretty tight, with about five feet of space between every home, probably, and a fairly thin runway for hovercars or buses. I walk up to the door and place my hand on a pad next to the door. It recognizes my handprint and the door swishes open. I walk in and dump my backpack on the couch, glancing around to see if my parents are home.

"Hey! Yoohoo, anybody here?" I yell.

I hear a soft clank from the back room and a groan. "Don't do that, Sam!" My mother's voice replies.

"Sorry, I guess."

I step into the small elevator that we have; there are three floors in our house and my room is on the top. I press a button in the wall and the elevator shoots up. Once I step out, I take about twenty minutes to change and get ready for bed. My school schedule is set up so I go in late and finish late, about 11:00 to 7:00, so I'm ready to eat and sleep when I get home.

Once I've made myself comfortable I explore my chilled food storage box in my room. My mom left me a sandwich and some cold tea. I grab both of these and flop down on my bed to eat it. While I stuff my face, I contemplate what kind of dream I want tonight. Last night I told my inhibitor to give me a total surprise, and what it came up with was me trying to survive in a jungle that had plants that were purple and blue, except the animals, they were pink. Then I ran into a pink caveman and he gave me a purple energy drink so I could keep running from the animals that wanted to eat me. Weird, I know. I don't usually like to do total random dreams.

After I finish eating I lean back onto my pillow and grab the inhibitor headset from beside my bed. I stare at it for a moment and then strap it around my head.

"Hello, Sam," an automated voice said. "What kind dream would you like to experience?"

"I'd like to have an adventure...a manhunt. And I'm the hunted. Place it on an unfamiliar planet, unfamiliar timeline. I have no control over characters or events" I took a deep breath. "Initiate."

With that, I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to overtake me.