Doom Dreamers

It is 3045 and technology has been developed to a point where it is no longer used only to make human beings more comfortable, but is used as a weapon, that of control. In the face of this threat, a human being’s life struggle is the uphill battle to sustain his individual identity, to remain his own master. In order to retain his identity, a human has to hold on to what determines his personality, his aspirations and dreams. Yes, it is dreams that shape who humans are, since it enables humans to set their goals and strive for a better life. Perhaps one could say that humans are foolish for dreaming, since most wishes and dreams do not come to fruition, but nevertheless, humans remain hopeful.  Are one’s dreams not the reason why one continues to strive? Lord Setou not only understood how human’s dreams impact their lives, but took this understanding to another level. This step that changed the world separated the ones who are termed “self-sustained”, and have no hopes or dreams, with the ones who are known as the “doom dreamers”, and remain capable of dreaming.
         

She throws her hands up as if she has a need to grasp the enchanting blue sky that is not even blemished by one cloud. As she lowers her eyes she notices the same rich blue of the sky, though with a touch of greenness, below her. The waves of the sea gently crash below the long wooden balustrade against which she leans. The wind blowing to the west desires to take her long brown hair with it and caresses her skin. The air around her is fresh and full of salty water droplets. She gazes at the surface of the water and examines the way the light of the sun reflects upon it. To her surprise, she realizes that actually there are small little lights known as wisps flying by in a group above the sea. Some decide to turn direction and take pleasure in circling around her. While they do so, their energy and aura contribute to her mood of calm and joy. She encloses one of the small creatures with her cupped hands. She separates her pale fingers, just enough so that she can peer through them at the captured wisp. The little light struggles, trying to free itself and without hesitation she lets go of this magical and phenomenal creature. The wisp flies up to her face and strokes her cheek to thank her for letting it go. The lights gather up into a group once again and continue their journey to the west. She does not let the wisps out of her sight until they are too distant and can no longer be seen by human eyes. She looks down at her white simple cotton dress, studying its material and crispness. It fits her quite well, enclosing her slender waist, yet loose in the skirt that falls just below her knees. She hears a murmur to her left and sees a blurry image that shapes itself into a human figure approaching her. A man’s voice in the background faintly whispers to her, “I have found you, my lady”.
Suddenly, the entire scenery seems to fade into black as if being pulled away by unknown force. She runs forward trying to grasp hold of the disappearing vision. She begins to feel a rush of electrical shots running up and down her spine. Her fingers stretch out without any control of their own. She forcefully opens her eyes and her pupils contract, becoming so small that the blue surrounding them seem to engulf the pupils. She takes a few breaths to recover from this ordeal. She removes her upper limbs from the arms of a torn mustard colored chair that reclines enough for her legs to be stretched out upon it. The chair is overused, as one can tell by how it has begun to mimic the shape of a human’s curves.
         “The dream wasn’t over you know,” she says while pulling her straight long chestnut hair off her face in order to expose her bare neck.
A man with white hair and a face that contains a map of wrinkles states calmly, “It is enough for now Alethea.  We have many others waiting after you.” The doctor comes closer to her side and unplugs a small electronic square disk that was inserted into her neck through an artificial hole surgically created. The opening in her neck is a small rectangle with precise clean edges that was made specifically for the disk.
“Don’t forget to take the dreamind with you,” admonishes the old doctor.
She takes the disk from his aged hands. She analyzes the engraved symbols ST inscribed on the disk in the dim light of the room. The room is quite dark despite its cracked white walls, for it does not have any windows.  However, it does have one florescent light that shines right above her. She places the disk in her pocket and walks out of the room into a mildly claustrophobic hallway that is very clinical in appearance.  The hall, with its numerous dark wood doors, even smells medicinal, like a hospital.  However, it is not clean, as the white walls are mildewed and the florescent lights above flicker on and off quite dimly. As she comes to the fifth door she opens it and enters an uninhabited room, a school classroom.  Therein she sits at her small wooden desk alone. If it were not for several florescent lights, the classroom would have been in complete darkness as well. The room is decorated with a large map of a city and instructions on how to use the dreamind, the electronic disk. The map piques Alethea’s curiosity, as the city depicted is surrounded by actual gates and a stark boundary. No one Alethea knows can remember if anyone has ever passed those boundaries and thus no one knows what is outside of them. She decides not to pursue this examination further since her class will be beginning soon. She can hear the drops of water dripping from the ceiling as she waits for her classmates to arrive. She begins to tap her fingers on her table according to the rhythm of the sound of the falling drops. Finally, she hears a wave of noises coming from a group of people entering the room. All of them are in their late teens, around her own age. She quickly opens up the desk and looks inside at a magazine lying there. The magazine is torn apart and ragged, but she does not mind, as the contents of the magazine are not of interest to her. Instead, she stares at the cover, which depicts a handsome man’s face. The man is around twenty, has short blondish hair, and is slightly scruffy. From what she can see in the illustration, the man is on an island with palm trees and a beautiful blue sky overhead, clearly from a distant era in the past. However, although this tropical paradise is light years away from the dingy classroom, Alethea could almost taste the coconuts depicted and smell and feel the salty sea air. 
“You’re not looking at that again?” laughs a young man, looking at Alethea. He is wearing a long beige coat with gloves that almost reach his worn fingertips and brown boots that almost reach his knees. He has brown hair, just long enough to cover his neck, and amazon green eyes.
“Duncan, don’t you have anything better to do than to stuff your nose into my business?” asks the girl with a hint of fake annoyance in her voice.
“Whatever,” is his one word response.
They look at each other for a moment and then begin to giggle, as the boy sits next to the girl, throwing his feet up on the desk. 
At this instance, the teacher, wearing her typical goofy red glasses, almost trips as she enters the classroom, as she is furious at Duncan’s relaxed way of sitting. Nevertheless, she begins her long discussion of the history of the 21st century, the so-called Golden Era. Ms. Maladroit had always been the teacher of Alethea and her classmates. She taught them every subject from history to how to place a disk in one’s neck. This class she discusses democracy and how in the 21st century everyone still had dreams and wishes. She is insistent that Althea and her classmates, the young generation of the future, can and ought to attempt to change everything back to those times. Ms. Maladroit was and is a very passionate woman, despite her physical awkwardness. Alethea believes that this is so because her husband, one of the leaders of the rebellion of the doom dreamers, died because he was trying to spy on the self-sustained. Alethea already knew everything that Ms. Maladroit was saying to her, so it is as if a broken record is playing over and over in her ears. She has other things to ponder. Soon it would be her turn to enter the outerworld and she was consumed by her thoughts and plans for that time.
“Hey…pstt! Alethea, did the doctor plug you into the dreamind yet?” Duncan leans towards her whispering.
“Yes I have, but I didn’t get to finish my dream…again,” was the reply.
“Funny, if they always say we should go on it everyday and they never let us finish it, then what’s the point of going on it anyways?”
“I dunno…Ms. Maladroit said it was to reinforce our individuality since everyone has their own wishes. Just even a hint of visualizing it is as if it is our true reality allows the imagination to expand our wishes later, whatever that means.”
Alethea pulls out her disk and shows the engraving to Duncan, stating to him, “I haven’t been there, yet.”
“What? The ST Corporation?” Duncan asks with astonishment.
“Yeah. But soon I will be going to the outerworld…and then…” states the girl.
“Are you crazy?! Alethea, you know, we, who are still inexperienced and too young aren’t allowed there! What if the Gifted recognized you? Have you already forgotten what happen to Ms. Maladroit’s husband? The only job you have is to take your turn every three months to steal food from the ST food factory and bring it back here, which is already a big task for a girl!”
“HEY!” She raises her voice at Duncan with frustration, “You chauvinist PIG!”
Ms. Maladroit pulls her glasses down her long pointy nose and looks at both of them, proclaiming loudly, “This is the last time you two talk to each other or else I swear on my late husband I will put you in detention!”
After this comment they both remain seated and do not talk for the rest of the class. When the lesson ends, everyone prepares to leave the classroom. Duncan and Alethea leave together and return to the great hall. As they walk through the narrow path, Alethea asks Duncan to stop for a second when she notices a little girl around the age four grabbing a long string and trying to tie her brown hair up. Her mother rushes down and pulls the string away from her while admonishing, “No, no, no, you know you are never allowed to put your hair up!” The mother grabs the child by the hand and leads her down the hallway.
“Come on Althea, we can’t be late for the grand auditorium room,” says Duncan impatiently, interrupting her thoughts concerning the child and the many rules under which she too must live.
Suddenly, the doctor who treated her before rushes into the hall in search of Alethea. As soon as he spots the two, he pulls her aside and says in a tone of command combined with sympathy, “Alethea, I am sorry, but the man who was supposed to go to the outerworld before you is ill with the Ebola virus. You will have to take his place.” 
Alethea is shocked and nervous, for her state of mind is not yet ready for such a departure, but she has no choice. Althea notices that Duncan is uneasy with this decision and appears tremendously worried for his friend. Thereupon, Alethea hugs Duncan in assurance.
Nevertheless, Duncan warns her in a tone not entirely his own, and in rather stiff language, “Be careful and do what you are told to do.  Do not deviate from the prescribed plan.”
After this exchange, Alethea follows the doctor down the hall in the direction of the doctor’s room. As she almost passes by the classroom door she asks the doctor to wait for a moment. She opens the door, rushes to her desk and stuffs her magazine with the man on it into her bag. The doctor and the girl then continue walking until they reach the last door in the hallway, where the medical chair was located.
In efficient and clipped tones the doctor reminds Alethea, “Remember, every three days you are supposed to watch your dream, if you don’t manage to finish your task beforehand. If you do not watch your dream you run the chance of turning into one of the self-sustained. I also have another task for you. I want you to give this letter to the Wilcots family. Make sure you do not open it beforehand.”
Alethea nods in acceptance, secretly thrilled to have contact with the Wilcots family. With her hand shaking in nervous agitation she places the letter in her grey bag.
“Do not worry,” states the doctor, noticing her anxiety, “You will just go and do your task and come back.”
The admirable doctor did not apprehend that Alethea had her own task in mind, quite separate from her official assignment.
The doctor hands her nourishment and a grey outfit that covers her from head to toe. It is quite loose and has a synthetic texture to it. On the left side above her chest there are the two letters ST printed on it. Following this exchange, the doctor takes her back into the hallway, but in the opposite direction from the medical room. As they walk through she remembers the time when she first discovered the magazine under a pile of forbidden “things” in the outerworld trash. She was only a little girl back then and it was the first glance she had at the handsome man and his very different world. It was the same day she encountered Duncan, her best friend. The very next day was her first appointment with the doctor and the journey into the illusionary world. Everything was the same, even the voice, the man’s voice that she keeps hearing every time.
The doctor and Alethea finally reach the end of the hallway, to the last door that has four huge letters that combine to form the word EXIT. She thanks the doctor for helping her out and asks him to send her regards to Duncan. There is a red ladder attached to a brick wall that reaches to a ceiling with a handle on it. She climbs up and with a struggle she opens up a part of the ceiling.
Her eyes are blinded at first by the light of outside world, but while they recover, she takes this time to make sure that no one notices her first step into the outerworld. She exits quickly and pushes the door shut again, wondering what is better, the dark underworld that she lives in or the world she sees before her. The sky of the outerworld is always grey and always has been, since she can remember. Ms. Maladroit said it was due to the pollution from the endless factories that ST Corporation obligates to continue. The outerworld Alethea sees around her is filled with ruined houses, broken windows, cracked wooden doors and sometimes, even rats crawling by. Every house is a shade of grey, due to the mold that covers them. There are numerous of pictures of a specific man plastered everywhere. They depict a man’s face from the shoulders up. Alethea notices that he has very distinctive features. He is a handsome man around his forties wearing an expensive suit, his hair jelled back, and holding a cigar in his left hand. Alethea removes her eyes from the posters containing the image of the dictator and the other unpleasant sights of the city and attempts to focus her eyes on something much better. What draws her eyes most of all was the sight of a skyscraper on the horizon, the only one in the city.  This building is so tall that it pierces the clouds. The building is made out of clean cut glass, has an interesting geometrical shape to it and has the two big engraved letters ST on it.
         Suddenly, a newspaper taken up by the wind hits Alethea’s face, breaking her gaze. Alethea grabs the newspaper and looks at the front page, which contains a black and white picture of the leader of the city, Lord Setou. He is the one who discovered the purpose to life and therefore was able to develop the technology to control people. Alethea quickly turns the page with the image on it and continues to read the newspaper, which discusses a war that is going on outside the city borders. Alethea does not know whether to believe this or not, but she is aware that this comment helps to prevent people from desiring to go outside of the borders of the city, if leaving the city was even plausible. She lets the newspaper loose and allows the wind to carry it away.
As Alethea continues walking, her ears are constantly assaulted by the noises of black helicopters in the sky above her that inspect the city. She places her hands in her pockets and strolls through the lonely streets. To her benefit, there is fog that seems to direct her along the narrow streets. She looks around at the very few people who walk by her. For her as a doom dreamer, it is quite easy to distinguish the self-sustained ones from the ones who are her kind, the other doom dreamers. The self-sustained all have the same rhythm of walking, the same way of looking at things. Their eyes do not ponder the scenery, but stay focused in one place. Alethea had been taught to mimic the way self-sustained behave and does as she was ordered. She reminds herself to remember her aim, to reach the Wilcots family and deliver her message. The wind is getting stronger and she tucks her hair into her shirt in order not to reveal her identity. 
A woman walks by, wearing the same suit as everyone else, with her hair flowing around her neck. She draws Alethea’s attention, though for no particular reason. Alethea, upon turning her head to look, cannot help but notice the bar-code tattoo on the other woman’s neck. The bar-code tattoo has lines on it, and under these lines, a series of numbers. Her glance at the woman’s neck was too quick for her to read, or even see, the individual numbers, but she knew exactly what the bar-code was used for. With it, the ST Corporation, headed by Lord Setou, is able to find out anything and everything about a person. All Lord Setou’s mignons would have to do is scan the bar-code with a tool, which reflects a red light upon it. Consequently, numerous policemen roam the street, randomly asking people to show their bar-code and be scanned.  Even the many helicopters that fly above the city have the scan injected into the machine so they can scan the land to determine exactly where each individual is and the direction he is walking in. Alethea is gripped by the terrifying thought that she will be asked to show the bar-code that she does not have on her neck, and even more so, that the Gifted will locate her. These frightening thoughts hurry her on even more quickly to her initial destination. 
         Alethea finally arrives to a wooden door with the number 5 and the letter T instead of the two letters ST, placed in order to discreetly reveal that they are doom dreamers in the outerworld. She knocks on the door with three rapid knocks and following that, two slow knocks. She hears footsteps running fast to the door. A woman with red hair opens the door, pushes her in, and looks twice at the street before closing the door behind her.
“Oh, Alethea! It is so good to see you again pumpkin!” the chubby and excitable woman with round and red cheeks exclaims in her sweet honey tone. She is wearing the same grey suit as Alethea; however, it was very noticeable that she does not belong in it. She opens her arms wide and embraces Alethea to the point where the girl’s soul is almost squeezed from her body, as well as her breath.
“It’s nice to see you too Mrs. Wilcots,” squeaks Alethea.
“Come darling, you must be tired.  Here is a cup of tea that I just made,” emplors Mrs. Wilcots.
Alethea walks into the small living room. The wooden floor creaks as she walks across it to sit upon a worn and torn grey sofa. The house looks quite old, but has several paintings of beautiful landscapes. Many of them depict a clear blue sky and the sea with several small boats sailing on it.
“Sorry about Mr. Wilcots not being here to greet you, but he has business to do.  You know, it is not easy to be a spy these days, but nothing like tea with two spoons of sugar to cheer you up. Drink up darling.”
Alethea takes a sip of the tea offered to her.
“Like the taste?” asks the rosy-cheeked woman.
“Hmm…this tea is very lovely. Thank you Mrs. Wilcots,” said Alethea, before continuing, “But before I forget, the doctor wanted me to give you this.” Alethea takes an envelope out of her grey bag and hands it to the friendly lady.
Mrs. Wilcots, by the expression of her face, knows roughly what the letter may contain, and opens the envelope eagerly. Her eyes run from one side of the paper to the other, and as she finishes it, she places the letter close to her heart. Alethea waits with anticipation to see whether Mrs. Wilcots will tell her what it is about. Mrs. Wilcots notices the girl’s curiosity, and with a smile she whispers, “I know I should not be telling you this, but apparently Agent 23 has decided to return from you know where.”
Alethea’s mouth opens with amazement and she asks,“Are you serious?”
“Yes, darling,” was the reply. “It says here in black letters that he is going to return from the outside border and finally we will get to know what is outside of this trash hole of a city.”
The girl’s eyes widen with excitement and they both share in this surge of hope that flows through their veins. Alethea asks with vast eagerness and excitement, “When will he be arriving?”
“Oh, very soon dear. But, first you must tell me how my little Duncan is doing.”
“He is doing fine, bothering me as usual,” is Alethea’s reply to the mother’s inquiry.
         “You know how men are,” said Mrs. Wilcots, pausing and continuing in a guilty voice, “I really wanted him to be here with me, but it is just too dangerous…he will be safer in the underworld. Right, Alethea?”
         “Yes ma’am, I suppose so.”
         “Still…it is so good to see you! You look wonderful! Duncan is so lucky to have you there by his side.”
         Alethea’s cheeks grow a little red, but she changes the subject in order to avoid any further embarrassment, “I better go soon.  I have another task to accomplish tonight.”
         “Oh, no you don’t dear. It is already getting dark. You better stay here for tonight and leave tomorrow morning,” is the unsolicited advice of Mrs. Wilcots.
         Alethea thanks her and sleeps that night at the Wilcot’s house.
The next morning comes and the grey sky appears once more. Alethea says her goodbyes to Mrs. Wilcots and leaves to go walk the lonely streets. She ambles along, gazing again at the weird creatures of the outerworld. A mother walking with her son does not hold his hand or engage in any conversation with him. The two just continue walking silently, like all of the self-sustained.
Alethea finally reaches an intersection of streets, where the one she is traveling along forks into two, one to the east and one to the west.  In the east, upon the horizon at the end of the road lays the ST Corporation food factory and in the west there is the tall building of the ST Corporation itself. She glances at the two options. She looks back behind herself, even though there is nothing of importance to see and then she takes a breath and decides to go to the left, to the west. She follows her gut feeling that seems to compel her to discover what really is in the tall amazing building in the far distance. She walks past a row of lonely naked trees, all of which gleam under an enchanted silvery light.
After several hours of walking she hears the slight weird noise of a fan spinning. When she finally realizes what it is, she looks up and sees about ten helicopters surrounding the area. Alethea begins to panic. Breathing heavily, she runs behind a bronze statue of Lord Setou pointing in the direction of the tall building. Questions zoom into her mind without any control. What happens if they find me? What are they going to do with me once they find me?
However, the lights that came out of the black helicopters were not pointing in her direction. Instead, they fix upon a man with a small suitcase wearing the same old grey suit as Alethea and everyone in the city. Alethea sees the ST police slide down lines from the helicopters when they were low enough to the ground to do so. The targeted person is not alone. Instead, two other figures wearing the standard suit are with him. She is only five meters away from them and can hear what they were saying to some extent, but due to her uneasiness she cannot concentrate. She tries to focus a little harder and notices that the police only arrest one of the men, and not only that, they actually shake hands with the other two!  It is then that she overhears the word Gifted, and it all becomes clear.
She remembers Mrs. Maladroit, her teacher, explaining to her how the Gifted are considered the biggest threat to the doom dreamers. During the 20th and 21st centuries such men were considered to have the mental disease known as schizophrenia. However, from research gathered through the years, scientists realized that the people who had schizophrenia were actually gifted people because they could see the unseen dreams of humans, even after humans like the doom dreamers had come to rely upon disks in order to view dreams. When the Gifted come close to people who still have the capacity to dream, such as the doom dreamers, they combine the dreams with their own visual reality. As a result, the ST Corporation uses them as human tracking devices. They are the secret weapon of ST, for they can not only identify the doom dreamers in the midst of the city of self-sustained, but they also can ascertain what the secret wish of the human doom dreamer is, and can confirm this to Lord Setou.
Alethea takes a closer look at the face of the man who was arrested and fears the worst. It is none other than Agent 23, the man who returned in order to tell the doom dreamers what was outside of the bounded city.
“He is too dangerous to let live,” says the chief of police.
“What do you think we should do with him?” another policeman asks.
         “Abolish him,” is the curt answer.
         They take out their guns and shoot him five times without any hesitation.  A squeak comes out of Alethea as she witnesses the death of hope for herself and the other doom dreamers. She places her hand with force over her mouth.
“Did you hear that? It came from there…” the chief says and points to the direction where she is hiding, only five meters away from the group of self-sustained and Gifted. The Gifted approach where Alethea crouches, frozen in fear, her hand still clasped over her mouth. Alethea can do nothing but close her eyes. At the moment that her enemies are one meter away from her, she decides not to think at all, but to clear her mind and simply play dead. At this moment, a raven flew out of a tree near to where Alethea was sitting. The Gifted must feel something, but it is apparently not strong enough to fully draw them to Alethea. So they return to the policemen and depart from the street, taking the corpse with them. As they drive off Alethea cannot do anything but let her tears flow, let all the emotions out.  However, she can almost not conceive of her good luck, as she had never heard of a Gifted not being able to identify a doom dreamer like herself.
         Alethea, although still quite devastated from the murder that she witnessed, has enough hope and confidence to continue her journey to the west. If anything, she is more determined. As she walks along the long sandy trail she wonders about what happened in the park. She begins to ponder how Agent 23 was caught. She remembers that even the Gifted couldn’t have known the truth of who Agent 23 was and what he was to do. They could have known what his dreams were, and that he was not self-sustained; however, they saw him as extremely dangerous, more so than the ordinary doom dreamer, who they would not have killed, but would have turned into a member of the self-sustained. She thinks that, no, unfortunately they knew something more about the man that did not seem quite right, beyond his doom dreamer status.
After many hours of walking the night falls again and Alethea decides to camp deep in the forest of naked trees. She sits down and starts a small fire. She lays her hands close to the fire in order to gather a bit of its warmth to her. She takes out an apple and sets out seeds, along with some water, from the stash of food that the doctor gave to her before her departure. She takes out her magazine from the grey bag and she stares into the photograph’s blue eyes as he seems to stare back into hers. Abruptly, she realizes that by tomorrow it will have been three days since she last evoked her dreams to reality. She finds a rock big enough for her to lean on and takes her dreamind out of her pocket and places it in her neck. She feels the adrenaline rush once more, as if a shot were running up and down her skin. Every single hair on her body stands on end. Finally, she shut her eyes and entered the world of her dreams.
         The same old blue sky appears, and once more she longs to grasp it. The charming little wisps come to play with her. She arrives at a point where she hears a man’s voice again saying “I have found you, my lady”. She realizes that at this point she should unplug the disk, in order to leave the rest for her imagination, but she is too curious. She wants to know what happens next. The girl wearing the beautiful white cotton dress looks up. There is a huge white sail with a red flag above it. She realizes that she is on a vast ship that is most likely sailing to where the wind is taking it, west. The blurry figure seems to be coming closer than ever before. She sees a nearer view of the man’s hand reaching for hers. The wind covers hers face with her chestnut hair and yet he takes his hand and pulls her hair away from her face, back behind her ear. As he does so, the wind dies down. However, at this moment, when Alethea desires to see the conclusion of her dream with more intensity than ever before in her life, her head begins to ache.  She starts to scream as the headache grows stronger and stronger by the second. She pulls the plug and lets the dream fade into black. Her hands are numb for a few moments and she lets herself remain at rest, leaning against the rock.  It is then that she allows herself the close her eyes in complete exhaustion.
         The next day came and the noise of a black rat searching for food wakes Alethea up. With disgust, Alethea rises up quickly and packs her belongings. As she continues on her journey her footsteps seem always to be muffled by the sounds of helicopters. How she wishes at this point to be hearing again the sounds of laughter, Duncan joking with her and even Ms. Maladroit’s overly long lectures. The tall building comes closer and closer and finally the entrance is just over the hill from Alethea. As she goes over the crest of the hill she notices the remarkable golden decoration near the entrance and a huge golden statue of Lord Setou before it.  The statue is around twenty times bigger than Alethea. However, there are groups of policemen protecting the entrance and more helicopters than she has ever seen surrounding the building. She knows that it would be hopeless for her to try to enter through the main gate. The only way she would be able to get in is if she had a bar-code that could be scanned and the necessary clearance in that information. She decides to search for a different entrance, and to her luck, nearby there is a group of self-sustained people who are pushing something with a white cloth covering it. While the police are investigating the self-sustained she jumps into the bin and covers herself with the white cloth. She waits patiently as the self-sustained are scanned and finally hears the wheels of the bin go over the threshold of the building onto what sounds like a marble floor. The footsteps of the self-sustained pushing her bin into the building begin to fade away. Alethea, knowing that she had passed by the scan and was inside the building decides to take a look around at where she is in. The bin is dark; however, she notices the rough surface that her soft skin comes in contact with. As her pupils of her blue eyes adjust to the situation she realizes that she is in a space with many crates, all of which have several stamps on them. She comprehends that these wooden boxes must have come from outside of the city border. Carefully, she peeks through the white cloth and sees that she is located in an elevator. It seems like several minutes until she finally reaches the highest level in the building. Alethea notices an enormous wooden entrance with two doors opened wide. Above the doorway, “Lord Setou” is written in elegant golden script.
         The room she sees absolutely exceeds all her expectations of grandeur. After all, she is not used to any sort of beauty, except in the images contained in old magazines from the Golden Age. The floor is made out of marble with columns shaped in the form of caryatids. The large windows have rich red velvet curtains to cover them, if one desires to do so. Chandelier lights made out of crystal reflect the light all over the room. Beautiful paintings done by the famous artists of long ago, such as those by Degas, Monet and Leonardo Da Vinci, including the latter’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, hang upon the smooth walls. Lastly, there is a golden chair filled with diamonds, almost like a royal throne, in the center of the room. Alethea confirms for herself what she has long suspected, that Lord Setou himself is a doom dreamer like her. After all, a self-sustained would never be so eager to have such power and to show it off in such a manner. 
         Suddenly, she hears rushing footsteps hitting the shiny marble approaching the room. She jumps out of the bin and hides behind the huge red curtains, though she still peaks out from behind them. The chief policeman who killed Agent 23 appears once more, and with him, none other than Lord Setou himself, who closes the door behind them. Lord Setou did resemble the posters that every doom dreamer studied as they stepped into the outerworld. He has his soft silky suit on and two cigars are placed in his jacket pocket. Yet, Alethea notices one difference.  In person, his soul animates his features and an evil grin dominates his face. The policeman opens one crate and shows its contents to Lord Setou, who peers in it.
“The crates are full with money Sir, and there is more where that came from,” the chief told Lord Setou. He continued, “Your plan worked, the market outside of the city is buying tons and tons of the products that we produce in the factories. You are a genius Lord Setou. Soon we can make sure every single person in this city including the doom dreamers will be working under your feet in the factories.”
In the midst of this report, Alethea notices that behind Lord Setou there is a wooden table and behind its legs is a boot that looks quite familiar to her. She then sees old gloves that do not cover someone’s hands. As Lord Setou and chief seem to be discussing their future plans, Alethea crawls along the floor, finally reaching the table.
“Duncan what are you doing here!?” she whispers in amazement, though it is more of a worried cry than a question.
Duncan doesn’t respond.  Instead, his eyes are fixed straight ahead of him.
Alethea continued, “Oh Duncan! I saw Agent 23 killed before my eyes…it was horrible! What are we going to do?”
Duncan looks at her for a few seconds and with a lost expression decides to run. Lord Setou notices him and grabs him by his shirt. The chief takes his handcuffs and places them around his wrists.
In the midst of all this commotion, a door is opened by a little girl around the age of four wearing a beautiful white dress with a little white hat. She walks towards Lord Setou and calls him “Daddy” in her high pitched voice. 
Lord Setou picks the small child up in his arms and plays with her, swinging her from side to side. As the child swings, so does her shiny hair. Alethea, already in a state of shock and panic, in fear for Duncan’s life, notices that the little girl has a bar-code on her fragile neck. Alethea is furious, and she can no longer control her anger. Foolishly, almost blinded by rage, she runs up to Lord Setou and begins to batter him upon the chest with her fists while hopelessly screaming, “You sick, sick bastard!”
To her surprise Lord Setou slowly lets go of his child and does he not even look at Alethea. As he continues to gaze at his daughter he says calmly, “Ah, you finally came out of your hiding place, hey Alethea?”
Alethea is shocked and takes a few steps back, asking in a small voice, “How do you know my name?”
“I am Lord Setou, do you really think you can be in my territory for even one day and not be discovered? You poor, poor, naïve girl.”
Alethea looks at Lord Setou and jerks her head. Then she inquires, “Then why didn’t you capture me before?”
         “Good question,” says Lord Setou indulgently. “I wanted to see how far you could go. Congratulations, you managed to pass by all of my policemen and my best weapon, the Gifted, and even found a way to enter my building without being captured. You are one clever girl, but not clever enough to defeat me. I have my ways to get information. Now if you will excuse me…” He finally turns and looks at her for a moment and bows to her slightly, mockingly, before turning away from her and with a fling of his hand saying to his chief of police, “Take her.”
         At that moment, the chief presses a button on the table and other policemen arrive in the room. One immediately grabs Alethea by the wrist and places a black mask over her eyes. Then he picks her up on his shoulder and lugs her away.
“Duncan!” she cries uncontrollably, before she is taken from the room.
         Minutes later the mask is pulled from her face and she gradually tries to recover her eyesight. The room she sees has a white plain surface. She tries to get up but both her hands and her feet are strapped to the chair by two metal rings. She looks to the left and can see a glass large window where Lord Setou, the chief, and other men wearing white cloaks are standing, looking at their subject. She attempts to shake her body loose, but after several minutes she realizes she is powerless. She hears the door open as Lord Setou arrives in the room, standing next to her. Out of his silk suit he pulls a small and familiar disk.
“You know this,” he said with some enjoyment, swinging the disk from side to side in front of Alethea’s face. A tear runs down her cheek in anger and impotence. With his finger Lord Setou collects the salty tear from her cheek and stares at it for a few moments. His expression was impossible for Alethea to read. Then, he went behind her, moved her hair to the side, and placed the disk into her neck.
         Alethea, still struggling to free herself, closes her eyes and then opens them, as in front of her an image zooms by incredibly fast. Everything that she was used to seeing in her mind is projected on the white wall for all to see. Alethea knew the plot well, even as it rushed by. After the words, “I have found you my lady,” the man places his hand upon hers. The headache begins as the dream is forced forward against her will. The Alethea in her dream lays her head upon the man’s chest. She hears him murmuring, “Everything will be o.k. from now on. You are safe with me.” The headache is getting worse and worse. Alethea starts to scream and shaking with pain and rage, she tries to pull her hands up, in order to take the disk out, but cannot. The dream continues and the dream Alethea leans on the man, finally looking up into his face and at first it seems blurry. To her surprise though, the man is not the blond man she has so desired from the magazine. No, this man has brown hair and green amazon eyes that look into hers with sensitivity. “Duncan” she whispers as she gently places her rosy lips onto his.
         Finally, the projection on the wall goes blank.  The dream is over and Althea is completely covered in sweat, with tears running down her face. She looks at Lord Setou behind the glass frame. He is whispering something to the chief. Alethea, while still trying to catch her breath sees Duncan arrive in the room behind the glass. She tries even harder to get out of the chair, but this time the metal rings open.  Alethea runs free from the chair, but cannot open the door to the room. Then, she runs to the glass, across from where Duncan is and looks hopelessly at him. He looks back, but when Alethea places her two hands onto the glass window, Lord Setou nods at Duncan and he leaves the room, obeying the dictator. Alethea stares at Lord Setou, whose evil grin presents itself across his face. She starts to scream, banging on the window uncontrollably. Then, as her heart beats even faster, she collapses in a heap on the floor. 
         After several minutes passed Alethea awakens and places her hand on her forehead. As she does this she notices that her neck feels very sore. It is then that she sees Lord Setou above her, holding a tool. He pulls her hair up and scans her neck.