He continued, "I was coding something for a V-Brain when all of a sudden my computer started to slow down and images flashed rapidly. Then you fine gentlemen showed up."

The officer dialed back his evil smirk after this. He believed Christian to a certain extent, as this wasn't the first time outsiders had attempted to contact employees. Recently, there had been an upsurge in rebel activity. As many as 50 cases a day. His arm raised and he checked a holographic screen on his wrist, pulling up a record of Christian. It was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it was flawless. Even more so, the lie probabilitator had only given him a rating of 30 percent.

He warned Christian sternly, "Your conduct in company safety has been quite mediocre, but seeing as your record is spotless, I will let you off." before turning to direct the men behind him, he turned to Christian for one last comment.

"My name is Ernest Martin of the Mutation Control Department. If this happens again, report it instead of letting it go."

The two men behind Ernest went forward, started unplugging Christian's computer, then left. Shortly after, they returned with another computer and did the process in reverse.

Luckily for Christian, there was no punishment. However, there was no doubt this would be a stain on his clean record.

While working the hours away, the event that happened today lingered in his mind. Not only were Ernest and his goons scary, a feeling of jealousy slightly came over Christian. That could have been him with the power, the men and the authority. Instead, he was stuck with the admittedly mundane grunt-work of coding for the company. Better yet, he seemed to be stuck with it for his entire life.

Stolen novel; please report.

Near the end of the day, Christian thought about what he was going to do about his dreams. He shutdown his computer, checking for one last second to see if any chat windows had reappeared before fully powering it off.

In bed, eyes closed, he thought to concentrate on his breathing. It had helped him some times in the past when he couldn't fall asleep and he had heard it was a useful practice when he eavesdropped on some important figures. Instead of normally falling asleep however, an hour or so passed and he was still awake. Bodily senses dulled, but his brain was still on.

Eventually, it had gotten to a point where it felt like his mind was completely separate from his body and he was in an infinite black void. Christian randomly decided to focus on a location, as it felt natural to do so. Magically, his old Growth House appeared right in front of his eyes, new people and all. Some of them were still awake, talking to each other under the cover of night, but most were asleep.

Most importantly, Christian was actually able to hear what they were saying.

One said, "Do you think that man who came to check up on us was part of the military? Or maybe some secret organization within the company?"

The other replied, "Don't be stupid. He must be pretty low level to have to drag himself down here where we're at." he mocked, "A 'secret organization' wouldn't waste its time with kids."

All of this talk about the company made Christian wonder what the higher ups were doing. Even if this was a dream, it would give him some interesting results.

He focused his intention on the top of the company's structure, changing the scene from dimly-lit beds to a blindingly bright private room.