Which Egos Playground

He got up, opened the window, and lit his pipe. He loved the cherry musk flavor of his pipe tobacco. He was in between meetings, his next one was in 20 minutes. So he was getting a couple of draws from his pipe before they came. Plus it helped him think. He had studied for so many years and got so many diplomas, certificates, and degrees, but he still didn’t feel any closer to the answer he had sought out all his life. It was the only reason he got so many different degrees, but so far nothing. At the moment he was working as a child psychologist, but really more of a parapsychologist, however, it was not recognized by the institute he was working for, at the moment. Most if not all the children he is seeing right now, are kids with normal disorders. He was glad to help them get through their struggles, but he was looking for a special kind of disorder which really wasn’t a disorder at all. But it did worry parents. His parents panicked until he stopped telling them things. After that they didn’t look so scared of him. He didn’t like it when they would give him that look. He always felt bad. There was a knock at the door and Paige popped her head in, “Sir your 3 o'clock is here.” “Thanks Paige, give me five, then send them in.” “OK sir.” She closed the door. Arthur snuffed out his pipe and put it away. He closed the window and sat at his desk, got his paper and pen out and waited. The door knocked again, and Paige popped her head in again, “Sir are you ready?” “Yes, I am, let them in, thank you Paige.” He said. Paige let them in and closed the door. Both the mother and the child looked very tense when they came in. “Sit please,” Arthur offered. They both pulled up the chairs and sat down. They had been to see him only one other time and neither of them would talk, so it was a very awkward situation. This time he had a strategy to try and get them to talk. “Hello Mrs Wisemen, how are you?” He held out his hand. She shook his it, “I am good, thank you Mr. Newinstalf,” she replied cheerfully. Then he turned to the little girl, “Good day to you miss Agatha, and how are you?” He held out his hand and she shook it and said, “hi.” “Good, now formals are out of the way, I had wanted to tell you a story about something that happened to me when I was maybe 2 or 3 years old, Miss Agatha.”

“Would you like to hear it?” He asked. She shook her head yes. He cleared his throat and began.

“It was in the afternoon and my mother was putting me down for a nap in my room.” “I layed there getting cozy and closed my eyes.” “But I kept opening them.” “Then one time I opened my eyes and my bedroom window looked like it was water.” “I put my head under my blanket and closed my eyes.” “That only lasted a few seconds and I had to check if it was still like that.” “And it was.” “Then I looked at it longer and it started to talk to me, but I couldn’t understand what it was saying. I was 3 years old or so.” “I dove my head under my blankets again, but this time I put my fingers in my ears and closed my eyes under the blanket.” “I was so scared and curious.” “Finally it went away, after I had finally fallen asleep under my blanket, I felt safest under my blanket.” When he finished, Agatha was looking at him wide eyed. “Did that happen to you?” She asked. “Yes, it did, Agatha,” he answered. “Sometimes mommies' pictures talk to me, but I don’t know what they are saying, I don’t like to go in those rooms, it scares me.” She said. Her mother nudged her. “Mrs.Wisemen, do you know the pictures she is talking about?” He asked. “Yes I do, but Mr.Newinstalf, they do not talk!” she said, a little agitated. “To you they would not, for your life is built on boundaries and apparent natural laws.” He said. She looked at him very confused. “I have written many papers on this phenomenon.” “However, it is so far unprovable, I only have theories and experiences of my own, and in my travels, your daughter is one of five I have met, excluding myself of course.” He said.

“Now, the terrible thing about it was that 3 of them were false.” “So only one other than your daughter, however, your daughter will lose this ability soon according to her age and exposure.”

“So you mean it will stop soon?” She asked with relief. “Unfortunately, Yes.” He replied. “What do you mean unfortunately, this is great news, me and my husband thought she was going crazy.” Arthur looked at Agatha, ``When was the last time they talked to you, and is there anything else that has happened like that?” He asked. “It has been a long time, but I am still scared of them, because I know they could talk anytime, but mommy says they can’t, I will believe my mommy, but I still don’t like those pictures,” she said boldly. It was at that moment he knew it had stopped, it wouldn’t happen to her again, he knew it. He found her too late. “Mrs.Wisemen, I can assure you, that what Agatha had experienced is now over.” “Agatha, I think we can talk your mom into getting some new pictures, right Mrs. Wisemen?” “Yes,” she said. “See Agatha, and guess what, that won’t happen again, I am sure of it.” “And nothing else has happened to you like that, that you can remember? He asked. “Nope,” she shook her head. “Do you feel a little better?” He asked. “Yes I do, I don’t feel so scared.” she said. “Well, if you do, you come and see me again ok,” she nodded her head. He got up shook Mrs. Wisemens hand and Agathas, “If you ever need me you know where I am,” he said. She nodded and they got up and left. He went to his desk quickly and pressed the intercom, “Paige, give little Agatha a treat please.” “Yes sir,” she replied. ``''Thank you, Paige.” He went back to his chair and sat down. He spun around and cranked open his window, grabbed his pipe and tobacco, and loaded it up and took a few puffs. When Paige came through the intercom, “Sir Jimmy on line one.”

Jimmy was Arthur's best friend even though they hadn’t talked or seen each other in years. That never mattered. Jimmy took a different route in life. He had inherited a ton of money and traveled the world, doing who knows what. Jimmy knew about Arthur's stories, he never said much about them. Arthur picked up the phone, “ Jimmy where you at?” Arthur asked. Jimmy laughed, “I am in town my friend, do you want to meet up?” “Ya for sure what time?” Arthur asked. “What time are you off work?” Jimmy asked. “I just had my last meeting, I could meet you in an hour, “ Arthur replied. “Ok I will meet you at Meneghins in an hour,” Jimmy said. “Ya that sounds good, see you then old friend.” Arthur hung up the phone. A big smile crept across his face, as he remembered all the times hanging out with Jimmy, he liked to have a good time. He leaned forward and pressed the intercom, “Paige, I am leaving for the day, if you are done you may go as well, have a great weekend.” “Ok sir thank you, you too have a great weekend,” she said. Arthur gathered his things and went home to get ready for the evening out. He rarely went out, so this was great. By the time he got to Meneghins Jimmy was already there sitting at the bar. Arthur went over to where Jimmy was sitting. Jimmy got up and gave Arthur a big hug. “Hey, old friend, good to see you, I ordered drinks for us already,” Jimmy said. They both sat down. They each had a beer and a shot glass, Jimmy had bought a bottle of chartreuse from the bartender. Jimmy poured them each a shot. “To life my friend,” he said. They both shot it back and took a shot of beer. They talked for a few hours, reminiscing about the old days, and talking about the new days. They hadn’t seen each other in so long there was a lot to talk about.

“So you are still looking, eh Art, well, I never told you, but I thought you were crazy for years, but it didn’t bother me,” Jimmy said. “Arthur, I haven’t told you about my last adventure.” “I was wandering in a desert, wandering for days, I had food and water.” “I wandered into strange land Arthur, and I met a man by a tiny brook.” “I spoke to him, he did not respond verbally, he up nodded to me then nodded to the side and started to walk, so I followed.” “He brought me to a small stone carved temple.” “It did not look like a desert here.” “I was confused, because it was a dense jungle we seemed to be in.” “I went into the temple and it was as if they knew me and my needs.” “I stayed with them, you're not going to believe this Art, but I have been there for the last 7 years, learning from them.” “And well Art, I don’t think you're crazy anymore, let me tell you that, you see Art, I saw some unreal things living there.”

“But these things should not be talked about in public.” “Let's grab some more to drink, and go to your house, Art, I want to hear those stories again through new ears my friend, I might be able to help you, I think I can,” Jimmy persuaded. Not that he needed to, Arthur would have asked him down anyway, and he was really intrigued with what Jimmy was talking about. “Ya, for sure let's go,” Arthur said. They went to Arthurs house, it was a cozy 2 bedroom, the one room he used as a study, 3 walls full of books and a huge desk. They went to the sitting room and poured themselves each a glass of whiskey. “So, come on man get started, I wanna hear them again, start from the first time, and go from there,” Jimmy goaded. “Ok, Ok, well the first time was the story I told in my meeting today.” “My mother put me down for a nap, and in short my window turned to what looked like water and talked to me, but I couldn’t understand it.” “That was the first time, the second time I was sitting at my grandmother's house, and her painting started to talk with me, and move about on the painting.” “I told my parents both these incidents, but they passed them off, then it got more elaborate.” “One night, I had gotten up, and felt like playing.” “The house was quiet, so I tried to be quiet.” “I was crawling on the floor, when I came to a corner, I put my hands into the corner and they just kept going in, so I crawled all the way into the walls, I crawled around and played in there for quite a while, then I put my hands in a crack and came out in my room, and went to bed.” “In the morning, when I got up, my parents were not impressed with how dirty I was, or how I even got that dirty in the first place.” “I tried to tell them that I was playing in the walls, they laughed and told me that it was not possible that I was in the walls, they told me to show them where I got in or out.” “There were no holes to show them.” “See, you can’t get in the walls so easily honey,” they said. “Later that night, I went to prove them wrong and go into the walls again, but I was not able to.” Arthur finished. “That’s pretty cool man, I am sorry I didn’t appreciate them before Art, keep going, I know there is more.” Jimmy said. “Another time, we had a bonfire going and people over, all the adults went into the barn.” “I stood there watching the fire becoming more enchanted by the movement, the flames dancing and moving enveloped me, and I walked into the center of the fire.” “Things really look funny from inside the fire.” “I felt no pain, I was not burning, I actually felt cool as the flames rushed over my skin.” “I had been in there a while, when I decided to get out, but my timing was off, my arm was still in the fire, when my mother shouted in dread at what she was seeing.” “When she did this I felt the fire and it’s burn and quickly pulled my hand through.” “I burned my hand, but not too bad.” “My mom was so mad at me or afraid, probably a bit of both,” Arthur said. “Man, that is a crazy one, keep going,” Jimmy pushed. “I only have a couple more Jimmy, because after a certain understanding has been learned all these things stop or so it seems,” Arthur said.

“The next one was when my parents were separated, I went for a nap and a black vector of my dad's face was talking to me, again I didn’t understand what he was saying.” “Then the last one was the scariest.” “I went to bed and had fallen asleep when it felt as if someone was sitting on the corner of my bed.” “I took a peak, and it looked like someone was just sitting there.” “I closed my eyes and wished it gone.” “I would open my eyes and look once in a while, even though I could feel it, I knew it was there.” “This time when it talked, I understood, He said, this is the end for you kid, you won’t be messy around anymore, there are boundaries, limits that as a human you cannot break, do you understand, I said, that I did understand and he left.” “That was the last time I had anything like that happen to me,” Arthur finished. “Wow that is some crazy stuff there Art, but I believe you, I do.” “First I wanna Know what your thoughts on what happened to you are, before I tell you what I have to say.” Arthur nodded, “I have written papers on this subject, but I think I can break it down fairly simply.” Arthur said. “When we are born we don’t know what the natural laws are and it seems because of this we can do and interact inside unusual circumstances.” “Once the boundary has been realized everything unfolds as usual.” “No more unusual.” “I believe it is a type of double slit experiment, whereas when we look at it, it moves as expected, however, when not observed the possibilities are endless.” “So once we place the thought of natural law it becomes adhered to.”

“And now only the expected remains, natural law prevails.” “That is the short version, but Jimmy I really do believe these laws need not be.” “But because of our collective mind we are bound by them,” Arthur said. Jimmy sat back and took a big shot from his glass. “I like it!” Jimmy said. “Now, I am going to tell you how you might be able to do and see these things again Arthur.” Arthur almost choked on his shot, “what, you kidding right?” “No, I am not, check it out.” “Have you ever had a lucid dream, Art?” Jimmy asked. “Yes, of course lots, you know this,” Arthur replied. “I know,” Jimmy said, “I was just making sure.” “Now, have you noticed while you are lucid, or should we say conscious in a dream, It always seems like there is a force trying to distort or subvert your constructs, even when you try to awake only to find yourself still dreaming.” “What if, bare with me Art, the subconscious ego does not like the consciousness there?” “It wants you to submit, and let the subconscious run the show.” “It expects you to follow its rules, and enjoy the ride.” “So when we become conscious in a dream the subconscious ego is what is trying to stop our constructs.” “Now, what if the mind is a mirror image of reality,

that would mean we could do what we do in our dreams in the waking world.” “But therein lies the problem there is an unknown force here as well, it has created the collective minds.” “Which spreads lies, dare we call it the conscious ego.” “Because, to do these things on this plane we must bring the subconscious to consciousness, which pissess off the conscious ego, because you can manipulate its constructs, and are not bound by its laws.” “But, it will try to manipulate and distort your constructs, some will be happening, some won’t.” “The line between awake and dream time has been cut.” “You can do as you please like this, but know it will always be there, finding a way to bring you back to its reality.” “Some I have met at the temple were men that could live in such states doing as they pleased yet they always seemed haunted by something.” “I myself have learned a few techniques that you might be interested in seeing, but first let's have another drink and tell me what you think of what I just said.” Jimmy grabbed the bottle and poured them each a strong drink. “Jimmy, that is fascinating stuff.” “It sounds a bit wild, but so do my thoughts on it.” “So, ya I believe that could be plausible.” Jimmy laughed at Art . “It is more than plausible, it is possible.” “Watch this.” He put his glass on the table. “Now watch,” he said. The glass melted on the table, but there were no scorch or burn marks. The glass wasn’t even hot at all, Arthur handled his now melted glass, he was in awe. “Put it back where it was Arthur,” JImmy said. When he put it back it became like new. It was the whole glass, as if it never melted. Arthur couldn’t believe his eyes. Jimmy got up and grabbed a piece of paper and put it on the table, he waved his hand and it lit on fire, it didn't burn the table either, Arthur was amazed. “I have one more for you buddy.” And he got up and put his hands and arms through the table without breaking it, then he pulled them out. There were no holes, not even a mark on the table. “Come on man, is this magic or illusions, or some stuff like that, come on Jimmy.” “No, it’s not, however, all rituals are to get us in the state of mind to shape reality, but you can learn that, they are just tools that can be used with limited results because of the lack of many things.” “And they tend to steer towards ways of thinking that are not necessary to do such things; actually it is quite the contrary.” “In most cases as they focus on the wrong things, not realizing that mind preparation is what the ritual is after.” “We at the temple do not have, or do any form of rituals of that form.” “We are able to attain that state of mind at any time.” “My last seven years have been spent learning and doing exactly what I just showed you and have told you about.” “Now what do you think Arthur?” “During these constructs you just did, there seemed to be no opposition like you had mentioned.” “Are there exceptions?” Arthur asked. “Yes, the less disruptive the construct the less likely we have troubles, however huge constructs are met indefinitely with subversion,” Jimmy said. “Crazy stuff Jimmy, I can’t not believe you, I just saw it, so where do we go from here, old friend?” Arthur asked. “Well, interestingly enough, we don’t use this as much as you would think, we only use it as we need to, not to show off or do tricks.” “I wanted to show you old friend that you are not crazy.” “There is strangeness all around us, you can learn to see them also, like you did when you were a kid,” Jimmy said. “And you can do so much more Art, your imagination and your ability should you need it, to think fast and efficiently, to solve problems on the go, because if you choose to do a large construct the conscious ego will try to thwart your endeavors.” “So you need to learn to think fast on your feet, because it can and will do anything to get you to stop messing with its system.” “But, you can go semi unnoticed, If you stay to small , short constructs,” Jimmy said. “ “And once it knows that you have been messing around with its world.” “Here’s where the semi unnoticed comes in, once it knows you, it messes with you in small ways, nothing too out of hand, but you know, it knows you know, and have been screwing with its realm.” “Hence, why we use it so little, but we are still all affected, because in our waking lives we are in its world, we should abide by its rules.” “Or so it would have us believe.” “These are fair warnings, before you decide whether you want to learn how,” Jimmy said. “Ok, Arthur said. “What about time, is it a construct as well?” He asked. Jimmy smiled, “I’m glad you asked, yes it is Art, it’s too wild buddy,

All time is moving at the same time, moving all at once.” “When you jump into a time before your birth you appear as a ghost to anyone who sees you.” “At this point the construct is huge, so the interference will be huge.” “You can’t trust what you see to be as they were, simply because it has detected you and is now intervening.” “It actually seems not to mind so much about you going to the past because you can’t do anything about it.” “It still will distort things though.” “It hates future endeavors, these, it will invest a lot of manipulation and illusions, or should I say dilutions doing, constantly, the future is always so muddied and confusing it will never let you see the true picture,” Jimmy said. Arthur poured them each, another drink. They both shot it back. “It sounds pretty wild, like not really worth the battle is it Jimmy?” Arthur asked. Jimmy poured them another drink, he shot his back and slammed it on the table, “you damn right it is!” He let go of the glass and sat back. His glass filled to overflowing with whiskey. Arthur couldn’t believe his eyes. He shot his drink back, before he had put it down on the table it was full again. “Hey, Ok I get it,” Arthur said. “You know what Art, there are those that have to work at this very hard for a long time, but then there are those that were born into it, not all children have those things happen to them Art, but the ones that do are able to learn our techniques much faster sometimes overnight depending on the person,” Jimmy said. “Do you have any vacations coming up?” “I am sure I can work something out, that's if I want to even learn,” Art said. “Really, you are kidding right now right?” Jimmy said. “Well, you make me nervous about this super conscious ego,” Art said. “I did not say super come on Art.” Jimmy jested. “Art, go look in your room.” Art looked at him, and went to his room. He gently opened the door not sure what to expect. Once it was open it looked like his college dorm room, even the smell of it was there. Art was in sheer shock, he looked over all the details, it was to the T. He walked in and picked up books, felt the furniture and was amazed. He went to open his desk drawer, but by the time he had gotten it a quarter of the way open, he noticed it was full of beetles. He quickly closed it. “What the hell, that was not good,” Arthur said. “Those are the things I was talking about.” “It’s messing with my construct.” “If I leave it longer, this messed up stuff will keep happening.” Jimmy said. Arthur turned to grab another book, but it had turned to stone, He got it now, kind of.

Jimmy let go of the construct, and Arthur's room was back to normal. They both went back to the other room and poured another drink. “So Art are you in or what?” Jimmy asked. “I don’t know Jimmy, that was pretty cool though, but yet disturbing at the same time,” Art said. “You get used to it, and you learn to walk the edge Art,” he said. “Ya, I don’t know,” Art said. “Well, you know what, let's forget about it for now, enjoy our night and talk in the morning,” Jimmy said. “Sounds good,” Arthur said. He actually did want to know more but he was leary. They sat and talked until they both had a little too much to drink and needed to go to bed. Arthur's dreams that night were quite strange. He couldn’t grasp most of it until he became lucid at one point, where he looked around and everything went blank, only a small bit of light shone in the middle. Where was he? Then he was on a foriegn planet with strange creatures. Even lucid he was scared, maybe more so because he was. He was being chased by some of these creatures on motor bikes, they were edging him to a huge body of water. He stood on his bike and jumped, preparing to fly, when a massive hand came out of nowhere, and slammed him out of the air and into the water. At this point he forgot about control and got terrified normally he would just breathe underwater, but this time he felt like he was suffocating, he frantically tried to wake himself up, but it was taking so long he couldn’t wake up. When he finally did wake up he was under water, he yanked himself up to see his bed had turned to water, he turned on the light and his bed was normal, no water anywhere except on him. Mad as hell he got up and went to where Jimmy was sleeping. “What the hell, Jimmy, did you mess around in my head,” Arthur yelled. Jimmy rolled over half asleep, “no man I didn’t I’m just sleeping Art, honestly.” “Why what happened?” Art told Jimmy his dream and about his bed, and anything else he could remember. “Ah, Art, it was just a dream bro, all our talking just got you thinking probably too much that's all,” Jimmy said. “Maybe you are right, but it seemed so real, but ya maybe,” Art agreed. “Ok, sorry to wake you up ole buddy,” Arthur said. “Ya, ya, just go to sleep, Art,” Jimmy said. Arthur went back to bed, but he was a little leary of falling back to sleep. When he finally fell asleep, another dream formed. He was in his room, from when he was a young child. He was in his bed and on the end of the bed was the figure, he remembered this. The figure turned to him, “Do you remember what I told you boy?” The figure asked. Arthur slowly nodded. “Good,” he said, then left. Arthur walked out of the room and out of the house into the street. He was lucid, and was really confused at the lack of movement or anything his dream seemed blank except the background. He continued to walk around, the background changed to a mountain range. He was actually enjoying the mountain walk, but still nothing seemed to be around. As he neared the top of a mountain range a voice spoke out. “Know your place,'' the voice said. Confused as to where the voice was coming from, Arthur lost his footing and fell. As he was falling he tried to change his situation, but nothing would work. He decided to wake up and when he did, he woke up falling from his ceiling onto his bed. This time he knew he was awake, but he wasn’t going to bother Jimmy, he was just going to wait until Jimmy was up to tell him. He didn’t want to, but it was already 6:30 Jimmy would be up soon he hoped. Arthur did not bother going back to sleep, he just got up and made himself some breakfast, and did some reading. Arthur was relieved to hear Jimmy getting up. Jimmy walked into the room. “Hey, morning Art, how was your sleep?” “I slept like a stone bro.” Arthur raised an eyebrow, “really don’t you remember me waking you up,” Art said. “Ya, I do, but man, I still slept great, why didn't you?” Jimmy said. “No, I didn't. I had another dream and this time I woke up falling from my ceiling Jimmy my ceiling!” Jimmy couldn’t help himself; he started laughing. “Ya, obviously Art, you probably should not do this thing, I am sorry dude, I had know idea that things would go like this for you.” “I kind of thought it would be your thing, but not at the risk of your life bro,” Jimmy said. “What do you mean my life, right away Jimmy?” Art asked. “No, it just seems like something is against you.” “Because to tell you the truth, in all my time doing this, it has not happened to me in my dreams, or in real life.” Jimmy said. “So I don’t know what could happen to you literally, it could be anything Art, so we will try and forget I ever told you ok.”

“Are you serious Jimmy, how do I forget it?” “It is something I have dreamt of since I lost my ability.” “How do I forget that,” Arthur said. “Ya, I know Art, but come on man.” “No Jimmy, I think I am going to do it, how and where do we start?” Arthur asked. “Man, I still am not too sure, Art.” “Yes Jimmy, we are doing it.” “Ok,” Jimmy said. “I already messaged Paige, and booked my holidays, they start today, so my friend I am yours teach me your ways,” Art jested. “Ha, ha, ha, funny Art, I am thinking maybe you should come with me to the temple,” Jimmy said. “Why can’t we do it here?” Arthur asked. “I thought we could.” “Ah, ya, we could but, I think you might be a special case,” Jimmy said. “What do you mean?” Arthur asked. “I don’t know Art, I just think it would be safer there that's all,” Jimmy said. “You’re freaking me out Jimmy, but I am still going to learn, so if that's where you think we should go then let's go my friend.” Arthur said. Hesitantly Jimmy agreed and ordered the plane tickets. “So where are we going my friend?” Arthur asked. “We are going to the desert, my friend,” Jimmy answered. “Don’t worry about it, I am going to teach you a few mind techniques to help when you get there.” “Sounds good,” Arthur said. He was so excited. He was terrified too, but his curiosity, way out weighed his fear. Jimmy taught him some techniques to practice on the plane. And when they got on the plane, that is exactly what he did. He didn’t even notice time at all, within a blink it seemed, and they were landing. Arthur felt so serene when they got off the plane. He followed Jimmy; he didn't know where to go. They got out of the building. Jimmy just kept walking south. In no time they were on the outskirts of the small city. Arthur had to say something. “Hey are we just going to keep walking and walking.” Jimmy laughed, “ya, we are, we have a long way to go Art, better get into it.” “No, I had thought maybe we would have sat and eaten for a bit,'' Art said. “Art, we rested and ate on the plane, now we have to travel my friend, we must reach a checkpoint I have created, by the time the sun falls,” Jimmy said. “Yes, for sure, I agree,” Arthur said. They walked and walked, by now they couldn’t see the city anymore, they were deep in the desert. The sun was falling fast even though they were at a good pace, it seemed like they were not going to make the checkpoint in time. “I don’t think we will make the checkpoint in time, but we might as well get to it, better late than never,'' Jimmy said. “Ya, for sure, but why do we need to be there before dark?” Arthur asked. “Because from what I heard, I never met up with them on my trip but it was told to me to try and avoid certain places at certain times, to avoid certain beings.” “They have a coalition with both egos, so their constructs go unopposed in either world,” Jimmy said. “Can we oppose their constructs?” Arthur asked. “Yes, we can Art, but they are masters,” Jimmy said. As they had been talking the sun fell and it was getting darker. Then the lights in the sky started. They danced around in the sky like crazy. Both men watched them in marvel. One of the lights looked like it was getting closer. The closer it got the more they realized how big it really was. They had nowhere to hide, they made their way as fast as they could, but they were still a good way off from the checkpoint. The aircraft hung overtop of them. They stopped and looked up as a light came down from it and surrounded them. They looked at each other as they started to float. Before they could say or do anything they were inside the craft. They were approached by 2 enormous beings. Their heads took up most of the upper body, their arms were long and muscular, with tiny small legs that didn’t touch the floor. These beings guided them to 2 cylinder glass tubes with fluid in it. In Between them was a chair in some kind of booth. Arthur was made to sit in the chair, and within a split second he was in one of the tubes of liquid, but he wasn’t drowning, he could breathe. Then Jimmy was in the tube beside him. The beings left the room while Arthur and Jimmy floated in the tubes in shock. Arthur didn’t know how to feel, he just hoped Jimmy had some Idea on how they were going to get out. He looked over to Jimmy who Already was standing outside the glass tube. He nodded to Arthur in a prompt that Arthur should do the same. He had no idea how to do it. He shrugged. Jimmy pointed at his head then beside him then nodded again. Arthur got it, now he looked beside Jimmy, and thought of being there and immediately he was. Jimmy shushed him. Otherwise he might have started to talk, they had to get out of there first. Jimmy could hear someone coming, he quickly made a short child gesture with his hand, then a swimming motion then dove into the matter of the craft they were on. Freaked out Arthur tried to do the same, but was met with the hard floor. He heard some movement and knew he had to get it. He dove again, but hit the floor again. As they came into the room he tried one more time and this time it worked. He just went into the craft, he maneuvered his way to the outside of the craft and was hanging on. Jimmy met up with him. “Good you made it,” He said. “We are too far away from the ground, we need to fly, Art, think you are up for it?” Jimmy asked. “Well, I can’t hold on much longer, so ya, lets try it.” And with that Arthur let go. Jimmy followed. At first Arthur was falling fast, but he kind of liked it. As he got more familiar with the feeling, he spread his arms and he stopped upright. Jimmy stopped beside him. “We need to go there,” Jimmy said, as he pointed at a small brooke. Arthur nodded and they both proceeded to the brooke. Once there Jimmy felt it was safe enough to talk, and rest a bit. Jimmy made a small fire out of nothing, Arthur was amazed, it didn’t seem like there was a limit. They sat and talked about what happened. Arthur couldn’t believe that he did what he did. “Why was there no distortion?” he asked. “I don’t know, Art, usually there is at least a small glitch, yours were just newbie glitches,” Jimmy answered. “Either way, glad to be out of that situation,” he said. “Has that ever happened to you Jimmy?” “No, first time for me, nothing wild at all, to tell you the truth.” “Well, except for what we do,'' he laughed. “Are you good Art, we should go,” Jimmy said. “Ya, I’m good,” Art replied. “It’s not too far now Art.” They walked for a while, maybe 45 minutes, when Jimmy stopped, grabbed Art. “Trust me.” Arthur nodded, “close your eyes tight Art.” Arthur closed his eyes. “Ok, you can open them now,'' Jimmy said. But when he opened his eyes he didn’t see what Jimmy told him he would see here. The trees were barron, and what looked like an odd color snow was everywhere and still falling. Jimmy was devastated he went running down a vague path, Arthur followed walking however. He looked around there was no sign of any living thing. When he found Jimmy he was digging in a massive mound of ash. Now Arthur understood it wasn’t snow but ash. As he watched Jimmy frantically digging through the ash his heart broke for his friend. “I found it,'' Jimmy yelled. “Found what,” Arthur said, as he came closer. Jimmy had found a freshly new formed flower, and had cleared a large circle around it. Jimmy yelled, “master,” and the flower petals closed and then opened beyond natural and a man grew out of it. Arthur was speechless. As they stood there a shadow over took them and drove tendrils of darkness into the ground everything around them turned to obsidian, even the master, Jimmy looked to Arthur, “run,” he yelled, and went off running, Arthur followed. As they ran they were being cut up badly by the foliage that was now obsidian. Then Arthur noticed that the terrain wasn’t hurting them anymore, Jimmy had turned the path before them into marshmallows, and Jimmy was no longer cut or bleeding. While Arthur was running he thought within himself to heal and it worked. This was going a little fast, but he was learning, at what cost though, he thought. As they got to the edge of the oasis heading toward the desert, it turned to an ocean Jimmy yelled back to Arthur you know what to do my friend, and they both jumped in and swam to the bottom. Then within a wink they were standing in the desert, open and vulnerable. “What's going on?'' Arthur asked, “seriously this is crazy, more crazy than any dream I have had.” “Art, I have no clue, I have never seen or been in anything like this,” Jimmy said. “It is a little harder to think of constructs, or that you can even use them.” “The mind goes straight to the, I can’t do that thoughts.” “I have only used it under my own circumstances, or at least controlled, I didn't know that it could get this chaotic,” he said. While they stood talking the sand underneath their feet turned to quick sand and they started to sink, but that's not what concerned them it was the shape forming out of the sand. Within a short while the shape was fully formed and stood before them. It looked like a hooded figure with no face. It stood there while Jimmy and Arthur sank deeper into the sand. Finally it spoke, “Since you know how to form and reform matter, I would like to use you to disrupt anothers constructs, do this and I will set you free from the sand.” He knew Jimmy and Arthur had been trying the whole time to get out while he talked. But they couldn’t create any constructs, they just kept sinking. “How long will it take?'' Arthur asked. “I have to be back to work in at least 2 weeks.” The figure laughed, “don’t worry all things will work out in the end Arthur,” the figure said. “How do you know my name,” Arthur asked. “I know all about you Arthur, and you know me too, you just don’t know it yet, you said you would stay away Arthur.” Arthur's eyes widened, “that was you, I wasn’t sure you were real.” “Oh, I am real Arthur, but now I am giving you permission to do as you please, but know this I am not the only one, there may be opposition to your constructs, but I will do my best to keep them to a minimal, for this reality has fail safes that work instinctually, a reflex as it were, I will keep an eye on such things.” “Do you agree?” He asked. Both Jimmy and Arthur shook their heads and said, “yes.” They both stopped sinking and were standing on the desert sand again. Arthur couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing. How could this be real? He had hypothesized about things close to this, but this was way beyond what he even imagined, it started to feel like he was in a dream, but he knew he wasn’t, he was fully awake, and he actually felt honored a bit that the stranger that sat at the end of his bed warning him to leave things alone, now was asking for his help, he couldn’t help but feel good. Jimmy wasn’t too sure. But since they had both agreed they would do as the stranger asked. “The beings that captured you earlier, the one that was in the room with you, he is the one, you must thwart his plans at every turn.” “His intention is to destroy you and your planet, that's all he wants, nothing else.” “You must stop him,” the stranger said. “Why is it up to us?” “It looks like you have enough power to do it, plus I am new at this.” “I am not sure about it all.” “To think and create is hard under pressure,” Arthur said. The cloaked being laughed, “silly Arthur, you only need to think Arthur, that is it and it shall be, but think as if you see it already, as if it is, and it shall be Arthur.” “People do it all the time without realizing it.” “But you are conscious of this so use it,” the being said. “And yes, you are correct, I have the power, but so do you, I need to tend to the reflexes, and you tend to him.” “Are you fighting the conscious ego so we can build constructs uninhibited?” “Are you part of the subconscious ego manifest in consciousness, only to help us save the world?” “And whose subconscious are you from?” Arthur had a bunch of questions. Jimmy nudged him, “just stop it, Art, just stop.” Arthur couldn’t figure out why, but he stopped talking. He wondered how much of a jerk the conscious ego was, to just let them all die. So much so the subconscious ego had to manifest itself. He was not impressed, and why him and Jimmy why not the army? “Arthur, you will need to focus your thoughts, the excess thinking will only be trouble for you,” the being said. “Ok,” Arthur said, now knowing it could hear his thoughts. “And speaking of the military, that is where he is.” “Come forward Arthur.” Arthur hesitated then stepped forward , “a little closer Arthur.” He went closer. Then the cloaked being put a finger to Arthur forehead, and put a grain of sand into his head. When he did this, it was like all the lights in his head went on. He knew now exactly where the being was. He came out of his head, “Wow, wow, I feel amazing,” Arthur said. “I must leave, you know your task,” and with that the form fell to the ground into a pile of sand. Jimmy looked to Arthur. “This is weird right?” “Ya, it is, I don’t get it, the other day I was in my office living a normal life with normal boundaries, now heck if I know what's happening.” “But let's try it, I have been searching my whole life for this doorway, I just didn’t know it came at such a price, or that it truly is dream like, actually more like magic, however we are just distorting reality, because we no it is a construct that can be messed with, this is blowing my mind,” Arthur said. Jimmy laughed, “you had to dialogue that, did you Art.” “I am just trying to process and talking out loud helps me Jimmy, come on,” Arthur retorted. “Ya, ya, I hear ya,” Jimmy said. “Well, where do we go?” Jimmy asked. “Not as far as you would think, just a few miles south,” Arthur said. “It should be night soon,” Arthur said. And no sooner had he said it, it went dark. Arthur and Jimmy looked at each other and shrugged. “Let's just walk. I need a little more time to process this,” Arthur said. Jimmy agreed. They had walked about 5 miles, when they both started to get a bit anxious. “How much farther?” Jimmy asked. “Not too much more, we should see it soon,” Arthur said. And sure enough there it was. It was a military complex. They had something massive under a huge tarp. Arthur and Jimmy snuck around. Even though they were still a ways off. “Is he in there?” Jimmy asked. “All I Know is we got to get in there, and find it,” Arthur said. “Are we supposed to kill it,” Jimmy asked. “I don’t know.” “You heard what I heard,” Arthur said. “Ya, well, he did something to you, Art,” Jimmy said. “Ok, got it, follow me,” Arthur said, as he dove into the sand, Jimmy followed. They swam down at an angle. They swam for a long way, when they hit a wall, but they easily went through the walls and were now in the basement of the military complex. No one seemed to be where they were at the moment so they went looking around. Then Arthur stopped. “He is in that room,” he said. “How do you know?” Jimmy asked. “Because I said it, do you get it,” Arthur said. Jimmy did get it. “Come with me,” Arthur said. Jimmy followed. There was a ladder bolted to the side of the wall, they both climbed to the top. At the top there was a small window, where they could look in the room. When they looked in they saw the being that had taken them, it was strapped to a bed, with a room full of guards and doctors, scientists, and others that stood about. The being was facing Arthur and Jimmy. Arthur was sure no one noticed them, not even the being. They watched, not sure what to do anyway. “We were just supposed to stop him from destroying the planet right, well it looks like he is detained don’t you think, these guys won’t let him go,” Jimmy said. Arthur agreed, what else could they do, it looked under control. So they watched. Arthur had been watching the being for a few hours now and something changed in its demeanor. There seemed a different light in its eyes, a knowing. Arthur was confused by this, but then again the being might have been out of it, and just came to clearity. That's when things started to get interesting. It’s eyes brightened and it got out of the restraints and stood there, as did everyone in the room. He said something Arthur and Jimmy couldn’t hear, but after he spoke all the guards shot everyone in the room then shot each other, and the being walked out of the room. Arthur and Jimmy looked at each other in shock. “Let's go,” Arthur said. They jumped off the top to the bottom. It didn’t matter, the being wasn’t in the building anymore. The complex was vibrating, something huge had to be outside. They both thought of being in the complex yard, and within a blink they were there. They could hardly believe their eyes. There was an enormous craft hovering over the complex. It was picking off the guards, and the being was being sucked up into it. “Hey, Jimmy, we better move out of the way,'' Arthur said. “Why Art?” Jimmy asked. “Because Jimmy, that is a massive rock, can’t you see it?” Arthur said, “Ya, you're right it is a rock.” Jimmy repeated. As they said it the craft turned into an enormous boulder. The beings were sitting on top of it when it fell to the ground. There were 3 of them. The military that were left started firing at them, then everything went black. Arthur opened his eyes and he was in his bed, what the hell, had this all been a dream, no it couldn’t have been, he thought. He jumped out of bed and ran to where Jimmy was sleeping. As Arthur came into the room Jimmy was opening his eyes. He looked at Arthur, then around the room. “Art, How did we get here?” He asked. “I was hoping you had an answer,” Arthur said. They both were paralized in thought. “Ok, we are here now, so let's get up, eat and figure out what the heck is going on,” Arthur said. He already felt like a different man from his recent experiences. They went to the kitchen and Arthur made something to eat. “I need a drink,'' Jimmy said as he got up and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. “I second that,” Arthur said. Jimmy poured them each a drink and sat down and ate with Arthur. They both ate quickly, both needing to talk about what had just happened. When they were done they pushed their plates away, took a big swig and sat quietly for a few minutes. “Ok, what happened Jimmy, we were on our way to go see your temple friends, when everything went sideways.” “Aliens, Jimmy, or whatever they are.” “And then we get to where you say the temple is, but it’s burned and destroyed.” “Then somehow your master resurrects himself from a flower, then he is promptly turned to obsidian, as well as everything else that was left.” “Then some strange mysterious entity tries to recruit us to derail a hostel planet take over from the very beings that captured us to begin with.” “And then there’s the military base, and then here, come on man, did you give me some crazy dream root Jimmy, or something because none of this feels real.” “I mean seriously, I knew there was more, but I had know idea at the extent, and that I would be flung right into the shit Jimmy, I had no idea how to do this stuff man, we are just lucky it worked out,” Arthur said. Jimmy hung his head a bit, “ya man, I am so sorry things went that way, but in all honesty Art, I didn’t even know stuff could get that crazy, I never seen that either, nor have I been in those situations either Art, I was experiencing it just like you, except I had, had training and you hadn’t, which really is what your giving me heck about, I am so sorry, but Art you did it, how did it feel?” Jimmy asked. A smile creeped across Arthur's face, “It felt pretty amazing, it really did, but was I so scared,” he said. “Me too,'' Jimmy said. “What happened?” “How did we get here?” “Was it the conscious ego, aggressively dealing with us?” Arthur asked. “I don’t know Art, this is uncharted territory for me too, it is possible, but then what was that entity in the desert?” “And why would the conscious ego care about normal, albeit a little weird circumstances?” “Doesn’t it only care about not disturbing the masquerade?” Jimmy asked. Arthur thought for a bit. “As long as no one is manipulating reality, why would it care, unless the being he told us to thwart is manipulating matter, and the conscious ego's constructs, which in turn would tick it off enough to go after it wouldn’t it?” Arthur said. “That sounds plausible anyway,'' Jimmy said. “Ok, it wants us to believe and obey the boundaries it has created for us without question or thought, which for the most part has worked for the masses and for millenia.” “Until, we here today are in the situation were a being from who knows where comes here and starts messing with it’s reality it has built for us, it gets mad, and finds us on our way to find exactly what he doesn’t want, however there is a being outside his system threatening it, so he enlists us, simply because we are on that road anyway, it thought it would use us to preserve reality.” “But why then would it send us back here all of a sudden?” “Are we done now?” “Is the task over?” Arthur asked. “Is earth safe from this being and is our reality safe?” “I have so many questions,” Arthur said. Jimmy laughed a bit, “Me too my friend me too, I feel so lost, I am glad you went over it again, because then I guess it makes more sense, maybe we are done helping it, whatever it was, whether it was the conscious ego or some other being we don’t know about,” JImmy said. “Then if the conscious ego sent us back here, and we are done helping it, if that's what that being was, then are we supposed to stop trying to manipulate its boundaries, and constructs?” “Is that the point?” Arthur asked. “Honestly Art, that was too much even for me, I don’t mind leaving it alone for a nice normal life, you feel me,” Jimmy said, pouring them each another glass. Taking a shot Arthur shook his head, “no not me even though I felt lost.” “It was amazing, I felt truly alive,” Arthur said. Shaking his head, “no Art you have been stuck in an office and classrooms for too long my friend believe me that was not fun or amazing.” “Ya, I guess you are right, infatuation due to lack of experience,” Arthur said. “Ok, so what are we going to do with the rest of my holidays?” Arthur asked, a bit irritated. “I don’t know, what do you want to do, and no Art no reality twisting buddy, we are done, I know that's what you really want to do, I get it, but man I am sorry, I brought this to you, Jimmy said. “Ya, you are right again, but I don’t know what I want to do, I keep thinking about it Jimmy.” Jimmy smiled, “me too, but it’s real and that scares the crap out of me.” “Art, it’s way bigger than we think, I think,” Jimmy said. “Ya, you are right again, funny how you are keeping me in line usually it’s the other way around,” Arthur said. They both had a good laugh. There was a knock at the door. Art looked at Jimmy, “Who could that be?” He asked, Jimmy laughed, “I don’t know, it's your house.” “Ya, ya, I know, I was just.” “Go get the door, Art,” Jimmy badgered. As he walked to the door a thought came to him telling him to open the door, but to move with it and hid behind the door. He thought this was a weird thought, but if it was someone he knew he would play it off as a prank, he would listen to the voice in his head. He grabbed the doorknob and opened it, followed the door and went behind it. He did not expect what happened next. A man in black stepped through the door with a shotgun and as soon as he saw Jimmy he blew him away. Arthur could see him hit the ground and the man turned around to go back out the door, or was he going to look behind it, did he know Arthur was there. Arthur couldn’t take that chance, he had to do something. He slammed the door shut and came out blazing, he had an ozzy in each hand and was mowing down the intruder. Except the bullets seemed to have very little effect on him. Then he turned his shotgun on Arthur. He pulled the trigger, but just before he did Arthur dropped into the floor, and went and grabbed Jimmy, and went back into the floor. As he swam within the floor, he could hear the man in black walking around. They couldn’t stay there. Within an instant they were in the desert, it was the only place Arthur could think of at the time. At least it was far from his house. Jimmy was ok, he had changed the bullets to rubber before they hit him, he wished he had thought of marshmallows instead. Both men were a little shaken up. “Why did someone want them dead now?” “What did they do?” “And who would have recognized them?” Confused, they sat in silence for a long time. “Jimmy, this all got really weird really fast my friend.” “Has this been some kind of setup?” Arthur asked. Jimmy looked at Arthur. “Are you kidding me, tell me you are joking, '' Jimmy said. “I’m sorry Jimmy, but this is getting out of hand.” “I thought we were just going to be doing neat stuff, like you showed me, but this is even beyond dreams.” “I can't even explain it, but it’s scary as hell Jimmy, we got people shooting at us, and for what?” Arthur was losing it. “I have no idea Art, I know as much as you at this point, really I am freaking out as much as you are,” Jimmy said reasuradly. “We can't go back to my house, now where do we go?” Arthur asked. “No, we can't,” Jimmy agreed. “But, we can't just stay out here either,” Jimmy said. Both men were up and walking and talking. Arthur felt out of his element. This was way more complicated than he had originally thought. Or had he been simply short sighted, he wasn't sure. All he knew is at this point he knew nothing. “I think I got a place we can go, this guy is a little nuts Art, but he is an absolute genius,” Jimmy said. “Sure let's go there quickly, '' Arthur said. “It should be,” Jimmy replied. “Does he live in this conscious world Jimmy, then how can it be safe, how?” Arthur asked. Jimmy drew in a deep breath. “Art we are in consciousness now, we can't escape it, we just got to do what we can while we can buddy, I have no idea what's happening, I didn't know stuff could get this out of hand I never saw it and all my masters are gone, Art, I am as scared and lost as you, but we got to go somewhere do something, Right,” Jimmy said. “Ok,Ok, let's go,” Arthur said, and with that Jimmy grabbed Arthur's arm and they were gone.

Within a blink they were outside some dirty broken down shack with barbed wire, wrapped all around the fence that was around it. Keep out signs and no trespassing signs littered the yard and building. “This is it,'' Arthur asked. “Yup, it sure is,'' Jimmy said. As he laughed a bit.

Jimmy went up to the mailbox punched in a code. Then started walking towards the back. Arthur followed curiously. Behind the shack was an old out house outside the fence. Jimmy was walking toward it. “Come on Jimmy, isn't this a little cliche,” Arthur said. “That's why it's perfect Art, come on.” They both got into the out house. When inside it looked like a normal out house, however cleaner than most,Arthur thought. Jimmy flushed the lever and they started moving down. This took Arthur off guard a little. Once it stopped one of the walls opened. There were desks and computers scattered throughout the room, each with someone diligently working on them. The room smelled of cigar smoke and scotch, Arthur knew these smells well. As they walked into the room a tall gentleman cheerfully greeted them, with cigar in one hand and scotch in the other. “Ah, Jimmy old boy, good to see you, and welcome Jimmy’s friend.” “This is Arthur, I had told you about him on my last stop by,” Jimmy said. “Ah, yes, you are Arthur, I have read your papers since the last time I saw Jimmy.” “I say Arthur you have a very interesting take on reality, is it fixed or are you open to other ideas?” He asked. “I am open to other ideas, do you have something in mind?” Arthur asked. “Why yes, I do, thanks for asking, and by the way my name is William.” “Nice to meet you, William,” Arthur said. “Nice to meet you as well Arthur.” “Would you men like a drink?” William asked. “Yes of course,” they both replied. He poured them each a drink and they sat down at a table off to the side. “Arthur, have you noticed things that look out of place, things that really don’t seem right?” William asked. “Especially since you started manipulating matter, bending the boundaries set for us.” “Yes, Arthur answered. “Well, Arthur, what if we use your theories, however we add one more component, Subconscious reality.” Arthur's eyes got wide, his mind reeled. But he had to listen. “Narrowed down, we are in conscious reality, and what you guys do is bring your subconscious into this world and that lets you do what you want, and because it is your subconscious, it is focused on you.” “And you believe that the conscious reality, just like in a dream, how the subconscious tries to thwart your constructs once you become conscious in a dream and try to manipulate it.” “So you might believe these curiosities to be the conscious reality now messing with you.” “But what if because you have brought your subconscious into consciousness, it, itself has become a reality therefore Subconscious reality, in it’s random nature has sprung from it into conscious reality, creating odd things to be.” “Not only odd things, but odd animals have been seen in strange places.” “And the strange thing about it all really is that no one seems to notice or care,” William said. He lit his cigar and finished his glass. He got up and poured another. Arthur thought for a while. No one talked. William wanted it to soak in. “I have been seeing weird things, but I thought it had to do with this stuff for sure, but if what you are saying is correct, it would be our fault and people like us, that this would be happening, is that what you are saying?” Arthur asked. “And what is the end game for this type of thing does anybody know?” “I am not saying it is your fault, how could any of you have known.” “If this is what's happening at all,” William said. “If it is, we don't know where this could go, or if there will be some kind of battle between the two, we really don’t know these are only speculations.” “Sometimes, I will turn my head and there will be a being looking at me from a distance, then I look again and it’s gone,” Arthur said, “is that the conscious or subconscious reality?” “We can only guess right now,” William said. “We have a few theories that we are working on, and these guys on the computers are scouring the globe for anything we can find to figure out what's going on,” William said. They drank and talked the rest of the night, talking about different ideas of what they thought was happening and how far it could go. “Are you able to bend this reality William?” Arthur asked. “No, I cannot, nor do I wish to.” “No, my cause is to find out how and why, these are the beasts that drive me!” William replied. “Please don’t get me wrong,” William said. “I have been saved many times by people like you, but there has to be a tipping point, things have been getting increasingly strange the last few days,” William said. Up until this time Arthur and Jimmy had not talked about their little adventure, which might shed light on some things for William, Arthur thought. He looked over at Jimmy. Jimmy knew what Arthur meant. “Ah, hey, Bill, me and Art here had a wild ride, I think you need to hear it.” Jimmy told William all that had happened. William sat there with his mouth open. Once he got his thoughts together, William got up and poured another drink and brought the bottle to the table and sat down. “Boys did you hear that!” William yelled. Arthur hadn’t noticed until now that the room was silent. They all nodded in astonishment. “So you had a powerful being give you orders to stop an invasion of the planet, then you were attacked at your home by someone else, you hope.” “You don’t know if the beings you were supposed to stop, have been stopped already.” “And there lies the confusion, are you done, and if so, was it them that tried to kill you, or the guys you tried to kill?” William said, lost in thought. “Ok, guys put a hold on all other projects this is priority,” William said. “I need you to scan our atmosphere and outward.” They all got to work right away. “We on the other hand should call it a night,” William said. “I will show you where you may sleep.” Arthur and Jimmy looked at each other, shrugged, and followed William down a few hallways until they came upon a small room with two beds, a small table and a lamp. “Sleep my friends, we will pick up our conversation in the morning,” William said as he left. Arthur and Jimmy went in and lay on the beds. “I would talk, but I am done for today Art good night,” Jimmy said. “Ya, me to Jimmy, you too.”

All of a sudden the light came on and Arthur and Jimmy were scrambling to get up. “Boys, you need to come see this now,” William said. Both men staggered to their feet, at least they had gotten a few hours sleep Arthur thought. As Arthur followed William he wondered if he was in a dream, but he dismissed it. Once they got into the larger room where everyone had been diligently working, they were now all surrounding one desk. Arthur and Jimmy walked up to see what was going on. “Look, there are four massive ships surrounding the globe, and for some reason we are the only ones to have detected it, makes no sense,” William said. “This has got to be the reason for all the new anomalies lately.” “They must be reality benders like you two.” “Some say that our ancestors are from the stars, who knows,” William said. “Are we called reality benders?” Arthur asked. “No, you are not, you are of the order of the inner being, or the prevaer of the deep spirit.” “What you are has many names, and has been called by even more names through time, I just call you guys that, that's all,” William said. “Oh,” Arthur laughed a little. “What are we going to do about those crafts?” “Do we get the military?” “We need to do something,” Arthur said, in a panic. William looked at him straight in the eye, “you are going to complete the mission given to you by whatever that entity was, it obviously knew something, and it seems like it wants to help, so I’d say buck up Arthur, we need a plan,” William said. “I don’t know the difference between our satellites and theirs, but we can see them, they cannot, we hacked their system to see and there was nothing unusual at all.” “So the military would think it was a hoax anyway.” “Plus, like I said, you were given the task for some reason, you and Jimmy, but me and my boys here, would like to help somehow, it’s our planet too,” William laughed. Arthur’s face changed, it got a little stern, “your right!” “Jimmy, we got to do this.” “I have no idea how me and you are going to pull this off, I would rather leave it to the military really, but It asked us so ya let's figure something out.” “But for the record, I am shit scared for real.” “I have never felt this fear before,” Arthur said. Jimmy looked up, “Ya, me neither Art, how, how, are we going to do this?” “I know we have too, I guess.” “We are the only ones I know of that can do what we do,” Jimmy said. “Ah, well, there is another I have heard of, other than your clan.” “She is a lone woman living in the Arctic.” “It is said she helps many up there.” “It is said she likes it in the cold, It keeps her from overheating, so that she can use limitless, because for some reason the conscious ego will not go there; it leaves the cold to its own reality of sorts.” “Yet, it is the scaffolding of all things still, so never left on it’s own really.” “Anyway, as for strangers seeking her out, that usually is not a good idea,” William said. “Wait a minute, you mean we can overheat?” Arthur asked. Looking at Jimmy. Jimmy shrugged, “I have never overheated, nor have you,” he said. “William laughed, “of course not, I bet neither one of you has exerted not even 1 percent of the power she outputs everyday.” “You have never even been near overheating or we would have known about it.” Arthur and Jimmy were confused. “We monitor many things, on, in, and around our planet.” “Power and heat, if I am being general, is one area we scan for and from where she is the power is off the charts, with no consequence it seems.” “We have had satellites watching her, she is amazing to watch, you two are children in comparison to her.” “Rumors say she has been this way since birth, her mother died giving birth to her in the woods, she didn’t make it home in time, so she lay on the forest floor and had her.” “Within minutes of her birth she was swept up and taken, by what or whom no one knows.” “When her father had found her mother, wolves had already been ripping at her, and as for the newborn, he thought that for sure a wolf had taken it to eat elsewhere.” “Yet, he looked, and looked, but he never found her.” “Today, he lives in the south where it’s hot, and there are no power spikes in his area, so we figure he is not one of you,” William said.

“Ok, well then let's go talk to this lady and see if she will help us, we have no idea how close we are to getting blown up, we have to go now,” Jimmy said. Arthur agreed. William smiled. “Good, then you are going to need these.” He handed them each a snowsuit. “Why can’t I just call her here?” Arthur asked. “Because, we don’t know what she would do, and we don’t want all our stuff wrecked, sorry boys, you are going to have to meet her on her turf.” William replied. “Where is she?” Jimmy aked. “Well, boys, that is a weird one.” “It seems, she is under the ice, when she is not helping random people she comes across,” William replied. “Do you have a photo of the vicinity of where she is?” Arthur asked. “Yes, of course.” “Stan, bring me A-48-2,” William said. A short plump fella got out of his chair and handed Arthur the picture. “Thank you,'' Arthur said. Stan nodded back. Both Jimmy and Arthur looked at the picture. “It’s just ice and snow, are we going to have to go under the ice?” Arthur asked. “Because to be honest here, I didn’t know this stuff was possible even though I wrote about it.” “I only learnt how to do this recently, and am not too confident in my abilities using it.” “Heck, I am still in shock at how we have survived this long,” Arthur said. “I am sorry about all that Arthur, but that does not change anything,” Jimmy said. “I wanted this, now I have it in aces,” Arthur said. “Good, see you boys in a bit, hopefully,” William said. Arthur and Jimmy started to put on their snowsuits when Arthur stopped. “Hey, we don’t need these when we go subconscious, we can just shut that feature off,” Arthur laughed. “Haha true,” Jimmy laughed. They grabbed the picture, looked at it, looked at each other and nodded, “I’ll see you there,” Arthur said. And they were gone. They appeared on a massive ice chunk in an ocean of ice and snow, more ice than snow. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. “Do you think we should go under the ice and look around?” Jimmy asked. “Umm, Jimmy, turn around, I don’t think we will have to look for her, and remember she is not our enemy, we need her as an ally, remember that Jimmy,” Arthur said. Jimmy slowly turned around, not really wanting to see, but knowing he had too, he could tell by the look on Arthur's face it was not good. A massive crack had opened and was moving toward them. “ Are you sure that's her, and not nature?” Jimmy asked. A massive ice dragon came breaking through the ice. Once it had broken through and had got on top of the ice it charged at the men. Both men stood frozen, in awe of what they were seeing. In no time it bore down on them, it opened its mouth, as if to consume them, and dive back under the ice. It drove down, it’s jaws were around them, but its face was shattering as it hit the ice under them. The whole thing shattered and a small red haired girl was standing there. She stared at them wild eyed, “Why are you here?” “I know you are here for me, why, what do you want?” She asked. Arthur wasn’t sure what to do, so he created a small ice dragon, and sent it to her. Her eyes widened even more. “You are like me!” She said, “Is he too?” She asked. Jimmy created a small ice bird and he sent it to her. She smiled, “oh, I am not alone, I have never known anyone like me!” she said. “I am sorry this is not under better conditions, but we need your help,” Arthur said. “Oh, you mean the help the shadow man wants?” “He told me, I had to help save the world, I wasn’t sure he was good,” she said. “You mean someone asked you to help already?” Jimmy asked. “Yes, he could do what we do, but way more, I am thinking.” “I said that I would not help,” She said, “Why wouldn’t you want to help, when I hear you help people all the time,” Arthur said. “Something is not right about anything.” “We, who do what we do, are outside the program, we work outside the script, we become aware.” “Whereas the rest of the world is trapped inside a program with a set pattern and script.” “Even when strange things come, it’s ignored, or passed off as a hoax of some sort.” “But we have stepped outside the program, and are aware of our existence in a real way, this is why we can do what we can.” “We are outside the script, but the one who wrote the script and designed the laws, has only two options for people like us, use us, or kill us.” “Either way, we are expendable to it, that's for sure, it doesn’t really want us around, but since we are, it has to do something.” Arthur looked at her. “It seems that your thinking goes along with our thinking, just different terms.” She smiled, “I am not so sure about that.” She grew enormous, so big her feet were on the ocean floor, and the ice and water came to her waist. Both Jimmy and Arthur were in awe. She grabbed Arthur, and threw him with all her might. Arthur flew at a tremendous speed. As things and places flew by, he couldn't help but think about what would happen when he stopped. Then something strange happened, nothing was going by him anymore, there was nothing. Then he stopped. He was floating in nothing. It was black around him with a faint glow that surrounded him. How could there be nothing, where had she thrown him. Now he had more questions than before. What is this place? He wondered. As he did, a reality started to form around him. In a short time the scenery was full. It seemed he was in the Mediterranean sea area. He had thought he was in space before. Now he was even more confused. He teleported himself back to where Jimmy and the red headed girl were. She had shrunk back to normal. Jimmy and her were talking while they waited for Arthur. Arthur looked at her and threw up his hands, “what is that!” he said. “Right,” she said. “I have told her your theories, Art. But she is not sure about her, or our theories.” “She thinks we might both be wrong.” Jimmy said. “You do?” Arthur asked. “Yes I do.” “I think we still have lots to learn, but it seems we might not have the time, from what your friend here has been telling me,” she said.

“Good, he filled you in about that, also great, will you help us?” Arthur asked. She giggled a bit and with the brightest eyes Arthur had ever seen, she agreed to help them. “We should quickly go back to the bunker and get the coordinates for those crafts,” Jimmy said. “I call myself lucid, by the way,'' she said. “And one of those craft things you were talking about, are they big really big, there is one of those things straight up from here, but it is very far up.” Both Arthur and Jimmy looked at each other then at her, “what,” both men said. “Ya, right up there,” She pointed. “Do you want to go see it?” She asked. Yes, for sure,” both men said. Arthur was a bit nervous but he wasn’t going to let her know. “Follow me,” she said, and with that she blasted off like a rocket. Arthur and Jimmy followed, but had a hard time keeping up with her. As they got into earth's orbit they could see it. It was huge. Arthur could hardly believe his eyes. There is nothing on earth this big, he thought. Lucid turned to Arthur. “Is this the craft you were talking about?” She asked. “Yes it is,” Arthur replied. “Do we want it gone?” She asked. “Yes, we do,” Arthur replied. “Ok,” she said. Then she made herself at least a 100 times bigger than the ship. Arthur and Jimmy were dumb struck. She grabbed the craft in her palm, crushed it, and threw it off into deep space. When she was normal size, Arthur and Jimmy could only look at her like some kind of god. Arthur shook it off, “wow, that was great,” he said, “let's go see William, and see what he has to say.” Arthur said. “Why?” “Are there other ones?” “Why don’t we do the same thing to them?” she asked. Jimmy looked at Arthur, “maybe we don’t have enough time Art,” he said. “It seemed like William wanted to help,” Arthur said. “He wanted us to come back with Lucid, '' Arthur said. Lucid and Jimmy looked at each other and shrugged. “Ok Art, if you think so,” Jimmy said. “I guess I ‘ll come too,” Lucid said. Within an instant they were in the bunker, with William and his small band of men. William was flustered when he saw Lucid. He had great respect for her. “Welcome miss,” he said. She smiled, “my name is Lucid,” she said. “Welcome, Lucid, to our headquarters, my name is William,” he said. “Hello, william.” Now he turned to Arhur and Jimmy. “While you were gone, one of the craft disappeared,” William said. Arthur and Jimmy laughed, “Ya, it sure did, Lucid here crushed it and tossed it way, way out there,” Arthur said. He now turned to Lucid. “Really, eh,” he said. “Yes sir, I did,” she said. William stood thinking while everyone watched him. “There are only 3 ships left,” William said. “I thought they were crafts,” Lucid said. William grinned, “yes, they are, but we call them ships, or spaceships.” “Oh, ok, I get it,” She said. “There are only 3 left.” “What if each of you goes to one, each with a squad of my ships.” “That should do it, I would think if you all did what she did,” William said. “You guys can do that right?” William asked. They both nodded. “Yes, I am sure we can,” Jimmy said. “Arthur, you,” William said. “Ya, ya, we can,” Arthur said. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like he wasn’t going to have a choice. “Come look, they are still just out of orbit, one is over Africa, one is over South America, the last one is over Antarctica.” “Who’s taking what?” William asked. “I will take Antarctica,” Lucid said. “I will take Africa,” Jimmy said. “That leaves South America for you Arthur.” Arthur nodded. “Perfect, let's go see how the fleet is doing,” William said, with pride. “Follow me,” he said. He walked down a short corridor and turned right, everyone followed him. Once they had turned right it was like everything was different. It was a very long tunnel, it seemed to be made of steel. But, only darkness was at the end. Arthur joked, “No light at the end of this tunnel, eh.” “No, there is not, and it will, be a wild ride for you, trust me,” William said. Now Arthur was getting nervous again, “what did he mean by that?” “How come no one else seems worried?” “Come on, let's continue,” William said. As they walked down the tunnel it felt like the tunnel moved, because in seconds they were at the end of it. Then William looked back at them, “Trust me,” he said, as he disappeared into the blackness. Lucid giggled and jumped into the empty. So did Jimmy. Arthur stood there for a split second more, then, in he went. When he could feel the ground, and could see, he was relieved to see he was standing in the middle of a hangar. There were massive crafts that filled the place, the place was enormous, Arthur thought. How, he was in wonder. William walked up to them,”So how was the ride?” He asked. “Can we go again?” Lucid asked. William laughed, “No, I am sorry dear, but it is one way.” “It is an anomaly we found many years ago, it can only teleport to this spot, we don’t know why.” “We built the bunker and this hangar around it, it is the only way we can get here.” “Crafts can get in through the hangar doors, but as you will see normal humans will not get in so easily,” William said. “All pilots come in that way.” “Follow me, he said. “Open the doors,” he yelled. There was a big clingk and the doors started to open. By the time they got to the doors they were fully open and Arthur could see. There was a rushing river down below, and they had to be about 300 feet up above it. “See what I mean,” William said. They all nodded. “Ok are you ready, we will meet you in the vicinity of the targets, before we engage, agreed.” They all agreed. “Let's go,” William said as he clapped his hands together. All his men got into their ships. Arthur, Jimmy, and Lucid looked at each other, “Well, I will see you In a little bit,” Lucid said, “See you in a bit,” Arthur laughed. Jimmy laughed. They were gone, and William and his fleet left the hagar and were heading for their assigned targets. Arthur flashed near the target, however he flashed out and found himself in the desert, along with Lucid and Jimmy. Lucid started kicking sand, she tried to fly up, she could not, she tried to make a pillar of sand, she could not. She was getting very frustrated, she has always been able to do what she wanted, now it seemed she could not. Both Jimmy and Arthur tried, and could not do much of anything. “What is going on Art?” Jimmy asked. How would I know, Arthur said. I’m not really asking, I'm just confused, that's all. Me too Arthur said. Well I am mad lucid yelled as she kicked the sand again. While they stood there Arthur saw a flash of the being he had been seeing in little flashes here and there. This time he thought he saw it go behind some large boulders about 50 feet away. He ran toward the boulders, Jimmy and Lucid ran behind yelling something, he couldn’t hear them, he was too focused on finding that creature.

Once he got there, he looked all over and he couldn’t find anyone. Then he felt it, a low rumble on the ground. He turned to his left and what he saw made him weak in the knees. Jimmy and Lucid had caught up with him. “We were trying to warn you Art, but you kept going,” Jimmy said. Arthur laughed a little, “do you think they are here for someone else?” “Ya, Ya, I get it,” Jimmy said. “Hey guys, they are getting closer and they do not look like anything I have ever seen.” Lucid said. Arthur and Jimmy looked. “What? What?” Jimmy said. “Oh, Jimmy, what the heck are those things?” Arthur yelled. There was a wall of creatures that most definitely were not of earth's origin. “Who cares, what are we going to do?” Lucid asked. All of a sudden she was massive, the same size as the creatures coming. “Come on,” she yelled, “let's have some fun.” She turned to the creatures coming their way and let out a fierce shout long and hard. Many of the creatures closest got blown down. Then she aggressively took to the sky. What seemed like myriads of creatures went up after her. The sky went dark, thunder rumbled, as lightning flashed violently. Jimmy ran out towards them, when an enormous War Hammer appeared in his hand. He then blew hard at them. His breath was cold, so cold he froze some of them and smashed them with the hammer. Lighting struck the myriads chasing Lucid. It had no effect, they seemed to revel in it. Then fireballs started to rain from the sky, they took some out of the sky, and even some on the ground. But not enough, they were still going after Lucid. Arthur felt he had enough time. Massive tendrils came out of the sand and found the creatures in the sky, and dragged them beneath the sand, not to be seen again. Seeing this Lucid rained more fire and lighting down on their attackers. While Jimmy was still freezing creatures, and smashing them, even in large groups already.

Before Arthur could form his next thought to action the scene changed. They were in the middle of a huge city. Arthur, Jimmy, and Lucid looked at each other. “What just happened,” Jimmy Yelled. “I don’t know Jimmy, this is way beyond my understanding, is it the conscious ego?” Arthur said. “But I thought we were on its side. Art, when we agreed to help it stop this, thought it would leave us alone,” Jimmy said. “What if when we went close to those ships it pushed us in between layers of reality, between the boundaries,” Lucid said. Arthurs mind reeled, was that possible, is there such a place, and could we be there? But before he could think anymore about it, Jimmy was yelling. “Snap out of it Art, here they come, and from all directions.” Arthur spun around to see where they all were coming from. Then he started warping and morphing the buildings they were on, and he started twisting the streets to life where the other creatures were on. As it looked like Arthurs plan was working, the scenery changed again. This time they were in the middle of a raging storm in an ocean somewhere. They all went under. They blasted their way out of the water, only to be met with a vicious storm and the alien army. Arthur really was in disbelief, he was a man of letters not this, he had to be dreaming, Jimmy put something in his drink at his house, he was still in bed sleeping. Within an instant he was in his bed, he jumped up and ran to the spare room, Jimmy was standing there confused. “What are we doing here Art?” “What did you do?” “I just thought this could be a dream, and that we were here at my house,” Arthur said. “Ya, but Art, your thoughts make things happen when we are connected like we are, we have to watch our thoughts, we have to go back, we left Lucid there alone,” Jimmy yelled. When Arthur and Jimmy returned Lucid was not in good shape. While they had been gone she fought them, but there were so many of them. Before Arthur and Jimmy could think beyond what they were seeing, they could see what looked like a tornado of fire and blood, traveling over the top of the water consuming all the strange creatures in its path. Arthur and Jimmy went to Lucids side. And they watched as this incredible force took over and made short work of the strange creatures. When it had finished, it turned toward them. As it got closer the tornado lighted and slowed down, and they could see a mighty figure floating within it. Lighting and fire sparked all around him. As all three of them were staring at this figure in awe, the scenery changed. They were on a ranch. There was no tornado of blood and fire, thank goodness Arthur thought. A tall military looking man came walking up to them. “So, have you been recruited by the subconscious to thwart an invasion of earth?” He asked. “No, we have been asked by the conscious ego to stop an invasion,” Arthur said. The tall man shook his head, “No, you haven’t, come with me.” They followed him into the house. He poured them all a large shot of whiskey, and placed it before them. “Sit,” he said. They all sat. “From what you are saying, you must believe that you are real,” the tall man said. “Of course we do,” Lucid snapped. “Yes of course we do,” Arthur said. “Are you so sure, young man?” He asked. “Yes I am, and sorry, what was your name sir?” Arthur asked. “I am Jack Mcinny, or that is the name I am known by.” “Somehow, I don’t remember my childhood, or grandparents, or even my parents.” “My memory starts out in a cabin with my new wife.” “We lived there for a few years, and then she got pregnant.” “I needed to go to town, I told her to stay in, but something got her out into the forest.” “I guess while she was out there, the wolves got to her and my child.” “I found her torn apart, but there was no child to be found.” He looked down at his drink a little and swirled it around. “Anyway I only remember from that point, I was apparently 32.” “Now, since the day I found her, it has been about 30 years, so it seems, it has allowed us to evolve and grow for 62 years, but who knows how long that is in the real world, could be 2 hours for all we know,” he said. “What are you saying?” Jimmy asked. “Please be plain,” Arthur said. “We are in a dream of some being, I don’t know what, and we are part of the subconscious ego, we were designed by it as such,” Jack replied. “NO,No, that is not right!” Arthur exclaimed. “I knew something was off, it makes sense to me,” Lucid said. “No, it doesn’t,” Jimmy said,” I have lived my whole life, I remember it, me and Arthur have been friends our whole lives.” “How old are you son?” Jack asked. “I am 32, so is Arthur.” “Hey, just wait, hold on a minute,” Arthur said, “from the story I heard from William, and the story you just shared, Jack, Lucid is your daughter,” Arthur said. Jack and Lucid looked at each other and they knew he was right. Jack ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I thought you were eaten by wolves.” “I am so sorry I stopped looking,” He said. Tears streamed down her face, “no father you would not have found me anyway, something took me, and to this day I never saw it once, we were in darkness constantly, it would speak in my mind, I would wake and there would be food.” “It taught me about my gift and showed me how to use it.” “Then one day it was gone, and I was alone, in the middle of nowhere,” she sobbed. “Oh, sweetheart, I am here now, you are not alone,” he said. “And neither are you father,” she replied. As they were enjoying their reunion, Arthur and Jimmy were going over what Jack had said. “No, he can’t be right,” Arthur said, “I have spent my life learning and studying, and nothing in my studies ever even implied that we were in someone's dream, not even the conspiracy community has put that idea out there, why would we believe Jack.” “I agree with you, we are conscious, how can we be characters in a dream. not a chance,” Jimmy said. Jack and Lucid were back in the conversation. “Ok, tell me what you think,” Jack said. Arthur cleared his throat and told Jack of his work and his theories about life, and the abnormalities therein. After he was done and had no more to say, Jack waited still a little longer. Arthurs words seemed to hang in the air awkwardly. For some reason to Arthur his own theories sounded childish. Finally Jack spoke. “You see Arthur, when the being is dreaming and he is not lucid and allowing the subconscious ego as you call it, to do what it does, we simply go about our supposed lives, then when he becomes lucid, or conscious that he is dreaming the subconscious get involved, however when the being dreaming starts to manipulate and create constructs, it goes about messing with them, and one way is by allowing us to become conscious of our lives and to dig deeper, which really is led by the subconscious, in tern recruiting us as part of the subconscious, you see as a dream or dream character we are products of the subconscious anyway however most of it is just dream static.” “We become linked to the subconscious, and work for the subconscious.” “That is our purpose, to thwart the dreamer's distortion of the dream the subconscious has created when he becomes lucid.” “Now, once he becomes lucid, it seems to fade in and out, so we get called sporadically.” “And not always, other times the subconscious takes care of it, itself.” “Sorry to tell you boys, we are the hands of the dreamers subconscious.” “It allowed us to be conscious, then it led us to itself.”

“I am not a schooled fella, but this is what I have come up with through my experiences.” “And because we seem to have a form of free will in helping it, it is not much of a choice, I have seen men disintegrate before me, for not following orders,” Jack said. Arthur got up and went to another part of the house. He could hear them talking in the other room, but he didn’t want to hear anymore. He is a dream character, nothing more than air or a thought. No he couldn’t grasp it. He had emotions, hurt, love, life experience, how was he a part of a dream, yet alone being a part of the subconscious. Lucid came into the room. “Hey are you ok?” She asked. “No, I am not ok, Lucid, we are nothing,” he said. “Well, we do have a purpose though, I think that makes us useful, plus even if we are not real, what we feel, feels real doesn’t it?” She said, “and if I remember William and his men went to the crafts, and we weren’t there to help, maybe we should stop feeling sorry for ourselves and go do what we were made to do.” “And real or not, William seemed like a good man to me,” she said. Arthur hung his head, then picked it up with new vigor, “You're right, real or not, it’s real to us, and if this is who we are, then lets get at it.” They hugged and went back to where Jimmy and Jack were. “Hey Art, I was just telling Jack about the temple and my masters, he said they refused to be part of the subconscious plan and were erased.” “And the being we keep seeing everywhere, is the dreamer Art,” Jimmy said. That's great Jimmy, but we forgot about William, we can’t just sit here talking.” “Agreed,” Jack said. Jack went with Lucid, when they got to their assigned targets, two of the three targets were floating in pieces, along with Williams men and their aircrafts. However when Arthur got to his target, it was there, and along with it, three monstrous creatures that looked to Arthur like space krakens. And it looked like William and some of his men were left and still fighting the ship and the space krakens. Jimmy, Jack and Lucid appeared beside Arthur. “What do we have here?” Jack asked. As the words were leaving his mouth, a darkness seemed to take over the three of them. It was as if the blood in their veins went black and pushed their way to the surface of the skin, it was excruciating, their eyes went a deep crimson. They looked at themselves and at each other in horror of what was happening. Their screams were silent. It was as if they got an upgrade, there was an unquenchable fire in each of them savage to its core. They attacked the creatures and the ship. Ripping and tearing like mighty savages, but on a whole other level. It was insane Arthur could feel the incredible rush of such rising power and blood lust. It was as if he was just watching himself do these brutal acts. There were no constructs of thoughts to create, just pure savagery took over. As the battle went on Arthur could feel the darkness in him starting to swallow him. He was losing himself, would he just melt into the subconscious now. And now it would take over his body as if he never was. The part that was still Arthur was getting mad, he did not want to go. By now the space beasts were gone and only the ship remained, but it had stopped firing and sending out smaller ships, Into the battle. Arthur looked around to find Jimmy and the others. William and all his men had been destroyed. Jimmy, Lucid and her father seemed to be dealing with the same issue. They seemed frozen in an inner battle. The massive craft turned, and when it did Arthur could see what it turned toward. Arthur couldn’t believe his eyes, it was the little girl that had been in his office last. She was floating, looking quite menacing. It was as if time stopped. She focused her attention on Arthur. It made him feel uneasy, even though he was morphing. “Dr. I lied, it didn’t go away doctor, you wanna no why doctor, because I am it, doctor, and you and your friends are mine, my toys, I made you doctor,” she smiled a hellish smile. Then she turned to Jimmy, Lucid and Jack, and blew, as she did, they flaked away and were gone. “You see,” she said. Time came back and the ship fired at the little girl. That's when she opened her mouth and kept opening it until she had turned herself inside out, however as she did so she transformed into a monstrous hideous creature, Arthurs mind or what was left of it, was terrified beyond understanding. He could feel himself flaking away like the others, and under the parts that flaked off was nothing but darkness and space. He was becoming part of everything. He fought it so hard. She attacked the ship. And everything went blindingly bright. Then dim, like a room with one small light in it, Arthur couldn’t see a source though. Where was he?

He opened his eyes in a panic and got out of the chamber, and went and sat at the table. He sat there deep in thought, when his friend came in. “I thought you were going to stay in there the whole trip,” He said. “No way, the dream I had this time was messed up, we have to stop talking about weird things before I go into cryo sleep.” “Why what happened?” “The people in my dreams became conscious of themselves, then kept coming after me,” he said. “Awe, come on were you trying to invade earth again.” “I was, but still it was too weird, even scary at times, especially that little girl, I thought I was going to die, so I woke up.” “That does sound messed up, but we got work to do, and it is not around earth,” his friend mocked. “ Alright, let's get to it,” he said, still rattled. As he sat in the navigation chair, he looked to the left out one of the port holes, and what he saw froze him stiff.

While Arthur was in what he thought had to be some form of limbo, he thought of his normal life, or the life he thought he had, then he thought of that last meeting he had. And within a wink he was sitting across from Mrs. Wisemen and Agatha. Who now looked at Arthur intently, “I see you doctor.” And instantly he was on the craft that they were battling, looking in one of the port holes. He could see that the being was not from earth, but he still could tell that when it saw him, it was terrified. Arthur didn’t know what was going on, but he knew his purpose now, he had nothing to lose. He grabbed the ship with what was left of himself, and yelled so hard the force burst the porthole, he was crushing the ship, and the beings inside were frantic. Then it went bright.