Dream Diary
1996
Wed Dec 18 06:00:00 GMT 1996
I am still at sixth form, where we have a computer network with a tightly controlled games playing policy. I have managed to hack into the system to allow me to play the latest version of Quake on the Network. I put it into the highest available resolution. There are splashes on the surface of the water, and there is a fully modelled viscous flow with boundary layers and turbulence. It is so smooth and detailed, still artitcial, but retaining a strong character.
However, the system administrator intercepts my packets, and realises what I am doing, finding me at my terminal before I have a chance to do anything. I am now banned from using the network as an example to other hackers.
Fri Sep 6 06:00:00 GMT 1996
I'm watching a television news report, where doctors reveal that every few years, the social taboo about anal sex needs to be reversed, because of their latest findings. It turns out that without occasional anal sex, the male penis across the whole gene pool gradually mutates, growing new nodes and non-functional orifices. It is only under the influence of high rectal pressures that penis growth can remain uniform and unmutated.
Mon Aug 26 06:00:00 GMT 1996
I'm playing Quake, moving along an outdoor scene in a scifi city. I can see the pixellated effect of the rendering at this low resolution, and I understand the code which controls the automatic security laser cannon emplacements.
However, suddenly the pixellation disappears, and I realise my mistake. This is actually real, not Quake. All the streets are very tangible and the edges are crisp and smooth. My body is very corporeal. A truck is being chased by a police vehicle, and I have to dive out of the way as it ploughs onto the sidewalk and through a crowd of pedestrians.
Sat Jun 15 06:00:00 GMT 1996
I'm at my college with my room-mate, where peculiarly all of the staircases are oak-panelled. Discover a secret panel on our staircase, it is like a dumb waiter that leads down a square spiral staircase, past the Dean's room, and discover another secret door, this time left open. It is the only access to the helipad on the roof.
Whilst realising the significance of this little door, which was previously only a myth, the Dean emerges from his room, his skin is grey and leathery, rolling in fat slabs around his stocky frame. His mind is absent, like the Seventy Sixth Earl of Groan in Gormenghast, which itself resembles my college in many ways.
We dash into the secret passage, and up a narrow staircase, which must thread around inside the other staircase. Once at the roof, we see the outside for the first time, the helicopter sits majesterially amidst the battlements of the roof.
I get into the helicopter, but my mate scarpers. Whilst starting the engines, a friend with whom I have fallen out appears, accompanying an official whom I didn't even know existed. They find me in the helicopter, and lead me over to a table which is laid out on another clearing on the roof. They have lots of equipment, which they will use to torture me, but I have no fear.
They rig up their first experiment. The only thought that goes through my mind is that this person, having once been my closest of friends, is now my gaoler and torturer.
They set the scene for me, giving me a hypothetical situation in which I must make a moral decision. There is a nuclear device about to explode, which will kill the entire human race. A hologramatic hallucinatory device causes a trapdoor to open beneath me, and I am now leaning back over the hole, about to fall in. I can already feel the flames from the fire licking at my clothes.
The question is, would I let myself fall back into the flames in order to save mankind?
Sun May 19 06:00:00 GMT 1996
I am walking in a cave, when I am confronted by two alien creatures. It seems that they have been living here, underground, for many years, observing our culture in peace. The aliens attempt to make contact with me, but at first I am unable to respond. They communicate by blowing large bubbles using secretions from various glands. The bubbles are supported using easily flexible limbs, and maintained by blowing through various strategically placed orifices.
The two aliens, apparently perturbed to see that I am unable to respond to their greetings, turn to each other. They both blow bubbles which coalesce into a single surface. Hairs on the limbs fibrilate, sending high frequeny waves down the bubble surface. They continuously adjust the position of their limbs and the pattern of their breathing, which has the effect of modifying the shape and curvature of the surface over which the waves are passing.
The aliens return their attention to me. They come forward, cautiously, and I feel a sense of calm as they put their arms around me and lead me to a separate chamber. The structure of the rock seems to have been altered organically, it would appear that the cave itself has a composition similar to their bodies. They stand in front of me, and I feel that they are reassuring me that they are not trying to harm me, that everything is alright.
They come to me, and wrap their limbs around mine. I can feel a hot bubbling sensation on my skin, as a fluid secretion is absorbed by my skin on contact, and begins to modify the genetic composition of my skin cells. They are modifying the structure of my body so that I will be able to communicate with them, I can feel my own glands starting to secrete the bubble juices in response to my thoughts, as if in preparation to communicate, in the way that one clears one's throat subconsciously before speaking.
I can also feel the cold presence of the alien biology passing through my system, and feel subtle changes in my perception, as I realise (possibly they are already able to communicate simple expressions telepathically) that they are altering the structure of my brain, integrating its physical structure with their own intelligence, and hence directly affecting the normal processes of my thought and behaviour.
Sun Mar 10 12:00:00 GMT 1996
I am floating in isolation, suspended by high density salt water. I am overcome by a floating sensation, my whole body is gently lulling back and forth as a feather on a breeze...
Now I am in a glider, scouting low over snow-topped mountain ranges, flowing with the stream of the air currents, engrossed by the stillness and calmness of the air.
An eagle flies alongside my glider, and communicates with me telepathically. I feel the air riffling between his feathers, feel the delicate strength of the muscles that hold his splendid golden wings in perfect aerodynamic balance.
I astrally project myself into the mind and body of the eagle, I can see through his eyes, and feel the sharpness of my talons. I roll into the orchestral air currents which perform their symphony between the crevices in the rock.
I follow a current now, let it take me down towards a valley. My flesh body has landed the glider on a nearby plateau, so I will be able to investigate the area later. I swoop down through a narrow slit, holding my wings in a tight line, and plunge into a dark crevice.
I find myself in a large underground cavern, filled with a liquid which I seem to be able to breathe. I see the aliens, they are large, squid-like creatures, partially buoyant, partially manoevering with their tendrils.
Their bodies are slightly translucent, but a warm glow seems to emanate from phosphorescent cells within their bodies. They are aware of my presence, but continue to perform their abstract geometrical manipulations. They are telepathically communicating as a collective unit, focusing their thought on a complicated topological puzzle which we all visualise physically in the centre of the cavern.
I find it intriguing that they have the time and confidence to continue their mathematical distractions in their circumstances of hiding and impending war. They instruct me that they are under no threat from humans, they are merely here because the environment on their own world is under threat.