The dreamscape was much more refined when Chase found himself in it again, the riot of colors having died down to a peaceful protest at worst. Still more tie-dyed and bizarre than the average decor, but closer to the sensibilities of a hippy art enthusiast rather than an unknowable alien intelligence. I wonder why I wake up in the same place here as I went to sleep in the real world. Chase idly pondered, and figured it was worth asking the incorporeal entity in charge.
“Hey Echo, do you see this dreamscape and the real world as the same or something? Just different layers? I’m wondering why it’s so consistent, normally my dreams aren’t so tethered to where I went to bed.”
“Essentially, yes.” A voice that was almost but not entirely Chase’s said, and Chase started for a moment before chuckling.
“Woah. You sound a lot more refined. Were you watching our conversation?”
“Of course! The way you communicate is so strange and inefficient. Why not just share the whole concept directly rather than go through auditory symbols?”
“...humans aren’t really built to do that, Echo. Frankly it sounds more confusing and painful than just having a conversation.”
“Humans are strange.” Echo declared, and Chase barked a laugh.
“Right back at ya. Hey, while we’re on the subject, what is your species called?”
“We don’t have a name. It’s not how we communicate, remember?”
“Yeah, I guess you don’t really need one when you can just trade concepts wholesale at the drop of a hat.”
“Why are you dropping your hat?”
“It’s a figure of speech, buddy.”
“Why are there figures in your speech? Where did they come from?”
“That’s…” Chase trailed off, wholly unsure how to explain wordplay to something that as far as he knew hadn’t used words until yesterday at the earliest. “I think we’d just confuse each other if I tried to explain. It’s like misdirection, or symbolism, a part standing in for the whole and representing something other than what it is.”
“Misdirection…” Echo pondered, their voice briefly taking on more timbres from Jess and Ellie. “That could be useful! I can bridge over some of that?”
“Really? I guess I’m not complaining about the light vision thing, but I did want to ask why you chose that.” It was a remarkably useless ability. Flashy, but useless.
“You needed to prove you were telling the truth, so something obvious. Couldn’t risk any of the others noticing, so nothing too obvious. It fit the middle ground.”
“Huh. That makes sense. I’m guessing it’s not all you can do, though? And Miles would kill me if I didn’t ask if there were any others like you, rebels against your society that might be willing to help us out with cool abilities?”
“...maybe. I am hidden in the cracks where others do not look. If I try to find more like me, I may be discovered.” Echo sounded more like Ellie now, carefully picking their words.
“Fair enough. Seems like we won’t make any progress without taking some kind of risk, but I can’t ask you to do that for us if we’re not willing to try some things first. You can keep yourself hidden though? Even if we start poking around and draw attention from Dr. Redmond?”
“Redmond… lab director. It would be bad if the one directing her found me.”
“Good to know. Guess you guys don’t really do names, huh? Anything I should call that one?”
“Bright. No one word fits quite right, but Bright is close.”
“We’ll watch out for Redmond and Bright then. Hey Echo? Thanks for helping me out like this. Makes me feel better knowing we’ve got one of you on our side. Don’t know what I’d do if I was on my own. Probably something stupid.”
Echo didn’t respond immediately, and Chase got the sense the incorporeal being might have been blushing if that was a thing they did. It warmed his heart to know that for whatever weird dimensional abilities and esoteric existences they might be, their kind could still get embarrassed and flustered. Might come in handy against Bright, too. Never underestimate the power of baffling banter.
“Alright bud,” Chase continued once the silence had made clear that Echo had no idea how to respond. “I’ll probably wake up soon, so let’s hash out a quick plan, alright? Let me know if this is something in your wheelhouse.”
-=-
Emerging from the dreamscape was much less dramatic a second time on account of not having his brain nearly cooked from parsing half a dozen new senses and a lifetime of memories all at once. Still, it was disorienting to see a wall that he clearly remembered being painted with baby blue and lime green spirals revert back to a neutral beige. Say what you will about Echo’s decorating sense, at the very least it was bold.
Chase heaved himself out of bed, shaking off the remnants of sleep and focusing on the plan he and Echo had managed to put together. It wasn’t perfect, and he doubted it would survive contact with the enemy, but that was the very thing they were trying to avoid. The longer they could fly under the radar, the greater the chance of success would be. He knew it couldn’t possibly last forever, but if it lasted a day he’d be ecstatic. These beginning stages were when they absolutely couldn’t afford to be discovered. Once they had a way to the central lab it would only be a matter of time before they were found out, but for now it was time for Chase’s least favorite type of video game mission: a stealth level. To make things worse, it was being mashed up with an escort mission. Any developer would see themselves rightfully raked over the coals by critics and fans alike for designing something like this. At least the escort in question made up for it. Probably shouldn’t associate Jess with anything escort-adjacent, that has sitcom misunderstanding hijinks written all over it.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
In a show of either solidarity or trepidation, no one had left the dorm yet when Chase emerged to join the impromptu group breakfast. The subtle signs of nervous tension were all there, from Kayla’s constant eye movements to Miles’s bouncing leg and Tom’s repeated clenching and unclenching of his grip on the coffee mug in front of him. Only Ellie seemed to be her usual even-keeled self, and Chase had picked up on enough of her character at this point to know it was a facade for dealing with the world. She seemed like the classic high achiever, a gifted child pushed by her parents from a young age who constantly tried to act more mature and refined than her age. It was simultaneously impressive and disquieting that she had managed the stress of their situation with minimal cracks in that front, and Chase resolved to try to get her to open up a bit more. Especially now, burdens needed to be shared before they became crushing.
No one was feeling particularly talkative, so Chase shrugged and ate his bland granola bar and disappointing coffee, savoring the warmth if not the flavor. Once he felt the silence begin to grow oppressive, he cleared his throat meaningfully and the table’s attention snapped to their appointed leader by virtue of mysterious and potentially useless powers.
“So,” Chase began stoically. “I bet you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today-”
“No.” Kayla cut him off with a glare. “Just no.”
“Spoilsport. Alright, well, I think we all know where we’re going today?” A chorus of agreements met his words. “Good. Word from Echo is that it’s unlikely anyone we’d come across today would have a parasite attached, but not impossible. Apparently the less important ones like to switch hosts sometimes if their initial pick doesn’t match their core emotion very well.”
Ellie blinked. “That is something Echo told you? What does it mean, exactly, to have this mismatch, and what is their core emotion?”
“So, the parasites are all about concepts, and they’re all born from emotions in particular. Echo showed me theirs, it was a sort of gentle curiosity - like a parent indulging their child’s imagination just to see where the child’s pretending would take them. But most of them aren’t like Echo, they’re born from simpler and harsher things. Anger, ambition, revenge, or something as seemingly benign as the need to leave a legacy. The kind of emotions that burn hot and bright and dominate the mind, that’s where the vast majority of them come from.”
“So what, do we need to take up meditation or something? Find our zen so they can’t slip in unnoticed?” Miles asked.
Chase shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt, but I don’t think it would help that much either. That was mostly meant as a warning to shy away from those sorts of strong personalities. Those are the ones most likely to be hosts, and I don’t have to tell you how bad it would be to get found out before we have more of a plan in place. Echo can shield us from some attention passively, but they can’t take much direct action or they’ll bring a bunch more scrutiny down on us. We don’t need Bright’s attention right now.”
“Who’s Bright? Another parasite?” Jess asked.
Chase nodded. “The head honcho, the one most likely bonded to Dr. Redmond. The parasites don’t exactly have names, but Echo called them Bright. They’re apparently a real survival of the fittest type, big on evolution by forced competition. I’m sure an ambitious scientist like Dr. Redmond is like a juicy steak to them. That’s the kind of person to watch out for today. Anyone who seems a little over the top.”
“Like Bobby, the stereotypically lazy security guard?” Jess looked nervous as Chase nodded. “Then why are we going back there?”
Chase sighed. “I don’t really like it either, but unless we want to wander aimlessly searching for another security office that might not exist, it’s still our best bet at finding some kind of access card or key to the central labs. For what it’s worth, Echo said it’s likely that Bobby’s parasite has already moved on since we found him in such an exaggerated state. No one really wants laziness as their defining characteristic, so they probably picked him clean of what they considered useful and left for greener pastures.”
Jess didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway. “I hope you’re right, or this all goes up in smoke before we even get started.”
Miles raised his hand like he was in class, and Chase gave him a raised eyebrow. “Did Echo mention anything about others like him? I’d feel a lot better having more backup than just the six, er, seven of us here.”
“We know you just want powers, you don’t have to come up with excuses like that.” Kayla sniped, and Miles sputtered.
“Well excuse me for wanting some physics-breaking abilities on our side instead of just against us! The cops in comics at least have guns, and they go down by the dozen when a supervillain shows up!”
Chase decided to cut off that train of thought before it could pick up a head of steam. “If it comes down to a fight right now, we’ve basically already lost.” Those words chilled the mood considerably, and he continued to try to inject a little positivity back into proceedings. “Echo said they would keep looking for others who might be sympathetic, but they’re essentially a fugitive right now too. The name of the game today is stealth. Don’t let on that we know about the parasites, don’t push too hard, don’t be too obvious. If there’s one thing we have, it’s time. The resetting days probably won’t last forever, but they’re not gonna stop tomorrow either.”
Chastened, Miles slumped back in his seat. “Sorry. This is simultaneously the coolest and the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Just thought there might have been something to finally tip the scales towards good here.”
“There will be.” Chase was surprised at the firmness in Jess’s voice. “Things have been coming at us hard and fast lately, but we’re still here. Roll with the punches a little while longer and we can hit these damn parasites when they’re least expecting it. I don’t know how we’re gonna do it yet, but I refuse to believe it’s impossible.”
“Hear, hear!” Kayla cheered. “Let’s get fucking going.”
She led the way from the dorm, followed by the heavy yet determined steps of Tom and the pair of Ellie and Miles. Only Chase and Jess remained at the table, and he fixed her with a curious gaze.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the impassioned support, but where did that come from?”
She shrugged. “I know I’m not exactly the most stalwart person, especially when stressed. But I can’t not believe that we’re going to find a way out, you know? I’ve still got people out there I want to see, things I want to do. Now that we know there is a potential path forward, I can’t be the girl who freaks out and hides for days because of a missing half-hour every day.” She swallowed thickly. “Momma didn’t raise a quitter.”
Chase nodded, then snapped his fingers. “Wait right there for a minute, I need to check something.” He ran for his room, finding the bucket where he’d been making the borax crystals undisturbed. Mentally crossing his fingers, he fished one of the straws out of the bucket and gave a silent cheer to find the little crystalline formation that had grown on it overnight. It wasn’t the prettiest thing, but it was the thought that counted, right? He gingerly held the straw behind his back as he made his way back to the table.
Jess was staring at him with undisguised curiosity now. “What’s up?” She asked, feigning nonchalance. Chase gave a small smile and in lieu of words, set the straw in front of her. Her eyes snapped to the crystals on one end of it immediately and widened in realization before they began to glisten with unshed tears. When Chase did speak again after a few long moments, it was in an uncharacteristically hushed, sober voice.
“We all need reminders every now and then.” He measured each word. “Reminders that we can’t just be boiled down to one thing. It doesn’t make you weak to go into shock at finding something like the blank 34. It makes you human. And so does this. It can be both a reminder of better times and a promise that those times will come again if we have anything to say about it.”
Jess shook her head, tears running down her cheeks, but she was smiling through it. “I swear, Chase, first thing after we get out of here I’m introducing you to my mom. Can’t believe you would do something like this just to make me feel better…”
Chase grinned. “So we’re already at the meet the parents stage?” He teased gently.
She laughed, and it was one of the most beautiful sounds Chase had ever heard.