Janessa Kepshawn could not remember what the teacher had said in class. She could not clearly remember what class it had been. What was the name of this school? It looked like a university. There were buildings with lecture halls and labs. There was a student housing complex and a cafeteria building. It had everything one would imagine a university to have. But something was missing.
“Everything okay, Nessa,” said Tania as she took a seat next to her under a tree.
“Everything is perfect,” said Janessa, “You are here with me. Duron loves me and I love him. Our parents met at dinner last night. Everything went great. I don’t know why Duron was worried. I was worried too at first but then I wasn’t. For some reason I thought there would be a problem because my family are naturals and Duron’s family are enhanciles. But why would that be a problem? It feels like I’m forgetting something.”
“Tell me more,” said Tania, “maybe it will come to you.”
“I think I had a dream Tania,” said Janessa, “I was on a spaceship far away from Earth. There was a war. There was an alien named Zai. There were problems in the world. Naturals and enhanciles did not get along. And there was something called the mind trap. But it was just a dream. This world is real. I like it here. I dreamed that you were dead.”
Janessa smiled at her best friend and waited for her to smile back and tell her it was all just a silly dream and everything would be fine. Tania Zed did not smile back. She looked so solemn.
“I am so sorry Nessa,” said Tania, “But that world you remember is real. This is the dream. The mind trap is real and it has you.”
“That’s not true,” said Janessa, “if this is just a dream… Then that means you’re dead Tania. But you’re not dead you’re right here next to me.”
“I’m just a memory Nessa. The real Tania is dead.”
“Don’t say that,” screamed Janessa as she got up and the tears started coming, “why would you say that?”
“Janessa my love,” Duron called to her.
“That is not Duron,” said Tania, “that is just an ideal image of him taken from your mind. They have done this before. They designed the mind trap well. They snare you in it then they let your mind do the rest. You build the dream for yourself. There is a team of their telepaths nearby hooked up to machines maintaining it all. But the human mind is still too different from theirs. If you can all reject the dream together then they won’t be able to hold you here anymore.”
“Stop it,” said Janessa.
“Before you met me I was the Antalla,” said Tania, “and Junitha has the memory of Antalla. Those of us who came before her, together we are the memory of Antalla and the Spectral Horde does not understand us or know how to fight us. Suchin is in here too. She is a telepath. With her we can see what they are doing. But we are just a memory. We can’t do anything real. They locked away Junitha’s mind, we can’t wake her. But I could come to you. You have to wake up. You have to reject the dream.”
The sky turned gray and there was thunder. Janessa saw the world come apart. It was not that things were breaking up. It was like watching things growing and being built in reverse. The campus buildings began to disassemble like a fast motion construction film going backwards. Trees began to shrink back into saplings them sink into the ground. The world became desolate and lifeless.
“Please stop doing this Tania,” Janessa begged.
“I’m not doing anything,” said Tania, “I told you I’m just a memory. Part of you wants to wake up Nessa. If you can reject the dream you can go to the others and wake them up to. Together you can escape the mind trap. But as long as just one of you remains in the dream none of you can get out.”
“I lost you Tania,” said Janessa, “I lost Duron. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“You never lost me Nessa,” said Tania, “as long as you carry the memory of me I will be there with you. And if you want I can knock some sense into Duron for you when we find him. That boy needs a slap for being a dumb ass.”
Janessa laughed. She smiled and laughed at being with her friend again and hearing Tania being Tania.
“Okay,” said Janessa, “how do I reject the dream?”
Tania shrugged, “just do it I think. You could try saying it out loud if that helps.”
So Janessa looked at the gray desolate world she had made for herself and said, “I reject. I reject this dream. I reject you and your mind trap.”
And the world was gone. Janessa was in the dark standing under a spotlight. She could hear voices in the distance, some of them high, some of them deep.
“This is a most puzzling development.”
“One of them has rejected the dream.”
“It does not matter.”
“One of them alone can not break free of the mind trap.”
Janessa stood alone in the light surrounded by dark and silence. Tania Zed stepped into the light.
“Good job now you need to get to work,” said Tania, “all of your minds are linked. You can enter others dreams. You need to go into them and wake them up. Show them how to reject the dream. Show them the flaws.”
“How do I get to them?” asked Janessa, “all I see is darkness.”
“That’s just the mind trap trying to isolate you. All you have to do is step beyond it and you will find them. I know you can do it.”
Tania Zed disappeared. Janessa Kepshawn looked at the darkness around her. She picked a direction and stepped forward.
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