Scared of the Law

2011-09-27

The dream begins with me and Matt driving around on campus. Actually, 'driving around' is probably a bit misleading - we were really just driving along that one road that sort of connects College Road to University Avenue. Except, in the dream, this fucker was miles long with large buildings flanking it on either side. It was dark outside, but the largest and newest building was proudly on display with searchlights casting up and down along its height.

The building looked to be about forty or fifty stories tall and was quite wide as well, maybe 1/2 or 2/5 as wide as it was tall. Most of the building was an off-white color, darkening in some areas closer to bronze, but overall it stood in stark contrast to the night sky above it. Its roof was dark red and 'wavy,' seemingly made of scales from our perspective on the street.

I was never told this, not did I ever see proof of it with my own eyes, but I knew the building to be a giant floating monorail depo. Apparently UAF was going to be the center of a burgeoning sky-rail trade, and we needed to build a giant depo next to a parking lot to accommodate the traffic. Pretty dumb, I know.

Apparently, Matt and I had each made a silent vow to visit the structure as we drove past it that night. The dream quickly progressed to the next day, where my family and I were visiting the building and being given a tour of the facilities by Todd Howard (from Bethesda Softworks). I was carrying that day, as per usual, but didn't think much of it because hey... why would I?

Todd led us to a large elevator, cargo-style except made only for people. The floor of it was occupied by large, white ceramic tiles that subtly darkened or brightened as we strode upon them. The whole elevator basically looked like something out of Portal. As the lift started its ascent, an alarm went off and Todd instructed us all to hit the floor because a weapon had been detected on the premises. At this point, the tiles on the floor began brightening and 'circling' around me, until at last the ones directly underneath me maintained a blood-red hue while everyone stopped and stared.

The elevator came to a stop some distance from its initial destination to let me off. Todd, my brother Nick and I all exited while the rest of my family continued upward toward the top floor to see the sky-rail. I'm not sure why, but at this point in the dream my brother was acting on my behalf as my advocate, trying to smooth things over with Todd who seemed quite alarmed and upset about this. Turns out, the building was a federal facility, something not previously made known to me.

No matter our persuasions, Mr. Howard seemed unwilling to relent and the police were called; and when I say "police," I mean damn-near all of them. Almost instantly, dozens of cop cars had encircled the building and were waiting for me to come out with my hands up. I was deathly afraid of this for reasons I can't quite recall, and I knew for an absolute fact that my only choice was to evade custody.

At last, Todd decided to cut me a break and help me escape the police. Maybe it was their overwhelming response that took him by surprise, I'm not sure. Whatever the case, he handed me a sheet of hard plastic - about the thickness of the plastic you'd get if you rent from Blockbuster or wherever - which was translucent white and pliable. He told me that I could use it to sail the winds down to the ground, beyond the police and possibly to safety. Looking back, it sounds quite a lot like he was trying to get me to leap to my death from thirty stories up, but at the time I was genuinely convinced that this was not the case.

Whatever the truth may be, I wasn't quite desperate enough to make the attempt, despite Todd and my brother's assurances that it would work (they'd both done it successfully, you see). I threw the sheet out the window and made a break for nearest hidden staircase, which I somehow knew all about, and made a swift descent to the bottom of the building in almost no time at all. I remember distinctly the near total lack of gravity in my sprint down the staircase, which allowed me to cut corners and even jump down the occasional flight of stairs along the way. I'm not sure if it was actually a lack of gravity or 'bullet-time,' to be honest, but it was helpful either way.

This seeming superhuman speed continued to aid me in my flight from capture, as after I'd burst out an emergency exit at the bottom of the building, I was bounding along the ground like a wolf evading gunshots from all around. Somehow I escaped, not taking a single round.

Here, the dream cuts to me at my house with my brother. I was packing my shit to run away; I didn't even know where to, I just had to flee town. I was tossing what I thought I'd need into a backpack, getting ready to hop in my car and book it to Anchorage or Delta or something. My car is of course quite shitty in real life, but in my dream it was in perfect working order and quite a badass machine.

I don't remember much of any of this. The last thing I recall 'seeing' in the dream is the Holiday close to the Johansen, as I made my way out of town. I felt nothing but terror at the prospect of what the future held for me, my life on the run from the police who could very well have my plates and be waiting for me just out of town. I had no idea, and no plan. It was pure flight, and I wanted gone.