*** (Scene 1)
The young man finds himself among a group of men and women recruited primarily from campuses all across the United States. A meeting is held and they are indoctrinated into a special mission. They receive special training and are assigned into teams of one male and one female each.
A large, thick-framed man speaks to them all and tells them what is happening and provides an overview of training. He speaks to them authoritatively and professionally, but is calm.
Another man in the group asks, “And what shall we call you?”
“I don’t give my name,” the leader says.
“We have to call you something,” replies the second man without hesitation. “How about Mac? We’ll call you Mac.”
“I would have preferred something else. But, that will do.”
*** (Scene 2)
The group is presented with a problem. One of the other new recruits suggests using latitude and longitude numbers to transmit data open source. The leader approves this idea, then adds, “But, we must transmit 8-digit data sets and lat-long have six digits in all, considering degrees, minutes, and seconds.
The young man central to the dream series says, “Well, lat-long is basically a Cartesian coordinate system. If we assign the point of interest as the origin, we can convert the data. The receiver knows the rule and can reconvert the data because he knows there is an implicit assumption of (0,0) as the origin. So, he has 8 digits of information: the six included and the two implicit.”
As he speaks, he draws a line across a map. The line begins far southeast of the two points, and ends just after passing through two closely situated points.
*** (Scene 3)
Later, outside the building where the indoctrination took place, the young man stands near Mac.
“When we’re in formation and you ask if there are any questions, I’m going to ask if Mac is short for Macaroni and Cheese.” The young man shakes with laughter and snickering. Mac remains as he was, looking toward the building and waiting for his recruits to exit and form up.
*** (Scene 4)
The class is preparing for a final event. All are dressing in fine clothing made of whites and golds. The suits have diamonds and jewelry. Women have fancy dresses and the men have suits. The young man is not yet completely dressed when he looks to his watch.
He turns a bezel on the face of the gold-trimmed watch and holds it near his mouth. “What did you say? I couldn’t hear.”
A female voice comes through the watch. Her words are broken and intermixed with static. “It’s too late. We have to stop. We must call off the operation.”
“What? What are you saying? I can’t hear you.”
A group of mostly females on the other side of the same room talk and laugh excitedly.
“Hey, can you keep it down? I’m getting a message, but I can’t hear. Quiet it down for a minute.”
If they hear, they do not acknowledge him. They remain laughing, preparing for the big event for which they trained.
The young man leaves the room, walks down a hall and enters another room. “Say again… What have you said?”
The female repeats, “It is too late. We need to stop.” An emotion tremors in her voice.
“Something is wrong…” the young man thinks. “Has she been captured?”
“What is wrong? Has something happened?”
Crackling static and a few garbled noises come from the watch.
“I still can’t hear you. Noise is coming through the walls.” He steps into a closet and closes the louvered bi-fold door. This creates a quiet space.
“It is too late,” she says. Her voice is clear— and clearly sad.
The door to the room opens and a young woman, partially dressed, walks in. The young man looks through the louvre and sees a brown-skinned young woman in a thong.
Quickly, he opens the door and steps out.
The young woman turns to him, “What are you doing in there?”
“I needed a quiet space to hear,” he says. “I’m leaving now.”
He tells the others about the cryptic watch communication.
*** (Scene 5)
Some of them stand outside. There is a feel to the environment here, like it is an island.
“Look!” someone shouts.
The young recruits stand and watch as the sets of red lines travel the sky, toward cityscapes North of them. The lines travel, then arc downward toward skylines of tall buildings clustered densely together. The lines seem to reach the point where an impact is anticipated. For a brief moment, there is a curious wondering, “What? Nothing?” Then, fireballs erupt at the ends of the paths. Massive fireballs of red tinged with orange light up the night sky.
*** (Scene 6)
I row a canoe across the water under a night sky. The exterior surface of the canoe is not smooth; it is made entirely of rich-cocoa colored burls. The uniformly apricot-sized burls form a continuous skin. In the canoe with me are another adult and a small person.
A whale surfaces off the starboard side. It rises up immediately adjacent us. As water pours off his back, the canoe is not capsized, but fills with water.
“He’s doing this because it is fun for him,” I realize. “Well, this is happening.”
The canoe sinks.
Me, the other adult, and a third person who feels to be ‘tagging after us’ are in the water, swimming toward the mainland.
Through a quiet night, in relatively calm waters, we swim. After a time, I wonder that there are no sharks in the water.
As we near land, I look back and see the tagging-after person. Appearing as a small seal (not a baby seal, a reduced-size adult seal), fear shows on the seal’s face. Behind the seal, a very large alligator swims after us.
To the other adult, I say, “Go ahead. I’m going to hold back a bit and deal with this.”
The other adult says nothing and continues swimming forward.
*** (Scene 7)
I tread water a minute and the seal passes. Then, the gator comes alongside. I place my right hand on his back and force him forward toward land. When we reach shore, I force his face into a solid vertical rock. His snout bends up at ninety degrees. Grabbing the end of his jaw, I bend it back and press it all the way to his eyes.
END