Page 18 panel 5
View of Farley from inside the tube, the Dream Lord's perspective. Farley's image is distorted from passing through the glass.
Farley: He should've known better. He should've known we would still be watching, that he would eventually have to pay for his jollies. Guess he thought he was indestructible.
Page 18 panel 6
Farley (thoughtfully): Yeah, there's a lot of that going around.
Tomlin (watching a complex diagnostic instrument in his hand): Commander Farley, Subject Adams is reviving. All body functions steadily rising in response to the solution. His heart rate is returning to prior baseline--breathing within acceptable rates--EEG indicates standard brain activity. No damage, no irregularities--except for a slightly elevated level of body radioactivity.
Page 18 panel 7
Farley: Very good, Tomlin. I believe it's time for a wake-up call, Gantry.
Gantry: Yes, sir. Arousal system engaged.
Page 18 panel 8
Within the tube, a blinding, white-hot spotlight flashes on and a high-pitched, deafening whine sounds. Already roused from his coma, the Dream Lord awakens, jamming his eyes shut and holding his ears.
Dream Lord: Aaaaggghh!!!
Farley (off-panel): Rise and shine, Adams.
Page 19 (7 panels)
Page 19 panel 1
Dream Lord: AAAHHHH!!
Farley (to Gantry): All right, turn it off. I think we have his attention.
Gantry: Arousal system disengaged, sir.
Page 19 panel 2
Farley (as the light and noise stop suddenly): Well, good morning, sleepyhead. Did you have a pleasant rest?
Dream Lord (gripping his aching skull; the green liquid continues to drip down onto him, collecting at the base of the tube): Ohhh...where...where am I...
Page 19 panel 3
Farley: You're home, Adams, we brought you home. We transported you through the dimensional envelope, from alternate space to central space. In other words, from Slumberland to Reality, to Earth. We evicted you from your private Fantasy Island in the Dream Zone, and brought you back home to pay the rent. Isn't it nice to be back?
Page 19 panel 4
Dream Lord: Oh, God...I feel like I've had brain surgery without anesthesia.
Farley: Don't whine, Adams. You had it coming, mister--and we've been waiting for a long time to give it to you. There's plenty more where that came from.
Page 19 panel 5
Dream Lord (looking around and putting a hand against the inside of the tube): How the hell...did I get in this thing?
Farley: It's a transport reservoir, Adams--the thing that brought you here. It's the product of years of research and development, the final, instantaneous connection between Reality and Slumberland. It's the great-grandson of the equipment that sent you over there two years ago. Impressive, isn't it?
Page 19 panel 6
Dream Lord: The only thing that would impress me right now is an aspirin the size of a football, and a bottle of bourbon. Let me out.
Farley: No, sorry Doctor. You'll be in the tube for quite some time yet.
Page 19 panel 7
Dream Lord: Why?
Farley: Well, you must be decontaminated, of course. Also, there are batteries of tests you must undergo, and the tube is the most convenient place for them. It's fully equipped with diagnostic sensors and sampling apparatus. Plus, you're under arrest, and have to be confined.
Page 20 (9 panels)
Page 20 panel 1
Dream Lord: Oh, brother. Again, I'm under arrest. May I ask why? May I ask who gave you the authority to arrest me?
Farley: Of course, Dr. Adams--it's a free country. You are under arrest by the government of the United States of America. The charges are theft of government property, resisting arrest, attempted murder, and subversion of the government of the U.S. territory of Slumberland.
Page 20 panel 2
Dream Lord: "Slumberland" is not a U.S. territory. "Slumberland" is not a territory, period. You can't claim something that has no permanent form.
Farley: It seems to me that you are in no position to argue, Adams. Your opinion means precious little in the face of what you've done. Some would call you a traitor to your country.
Page 20 panel 3
Farley: Some would do worse than that. There is already a sizeable coalition on the National Security Council calling for your execution.
Dream Lord (shaking his head with exasperation): What government property did I steal? It seems to have slipped my mind.
Page 20 panel 4
Farley: Yourself, Dr. Adams. When the President was near death two years ago, you were brought in to revive him from a Gordian Nightmare. You were not asked to do so, however--you were confiscated. In return for delinquent student loans and back taxes you owed us, we repossessed you. As part of a new program established by the I.R.S., we would extract assets you owed us in the form of labor.
Page 20 panel 5
Farley: Actually, it's quite an effective program. The U.S. government is supplied with free labor from all intellectual strata, and the money saved negates the individual's debt. Nobody can be excused on the basis of inability to pay. Until a citizen's entire debt has been repaid, he or she is officially a ward of the government--collateral, if you will.
Page 20 panel 6
Farley: You fled before your debt was equalized. The I.R.S. wants your scalp... and so do we.
Dream Lord: "We?"
Page 20 panel 7
Farley: Project Dream Lord, Dr. Adams. You remember us. We initiated your entry into the Dream Zone, using a combination of your Dream Screen and equipment we'd already developed. We've grown a bit since then. Now, we're the core of a new branch of the U.S. armed forces--the Night Brigade. My name is Farley, and I command this new combat force.
Dream Lord: What's the purpose of a military unit in the Dream Zone? What could they possibly do?
Page 20 panel 8
Farley: The defense of the territory of Slumberland, of course. Also, the infiltration of enemy minds. Through Slumberland, our agents can enter the dreams of enemies of our country--and attack! A strong disruption in a dream can permanently damage someone's mind, create a vegetable. Enough disruption can kill.
Page 20 panel 9
Farley: They're the new Sandmen, the first of the new dream warriors. Conventional forces are limited...nuclear weapons bring death to our own land...but dreams...dreams are the ultimate weapon! Swift, silent, clean, accurate, and 100% deadly!
Dream Lord: You can't be serious!
Page 21 (8 panels)
Page 21 panel 1
Farley: Oh, don't act so surprised, Adams. That was the purpose of Project Dream Lord since the beginning. It was designed as a military program, to investigate the possibilities of using dream control for national defense.
Dream Lord: What? You mean it wasn't medical research?
Page 21 panel 2
Farley: Don't be naive. Did you honestly think that all that sophisticated equipment was paid for by the government so a couple of lame doctors could eavesdrop on somebody's wet dream? Grow up! Congress doesn't fund expensive medical programs unless there's an epidemic.
Dream Lord: Then...it wasn't assembled to save the President?
Page 21 panel 3
Farley: No, not really. It was just a lucky coincidence that he happened to come down with a dream disorder at the same time we finished a prototype transport tube. Any sooner, and there would have been nothing we could do.
Dream Lord: I should have known, My God. I should have known it was a military operation. I was so caught up in it...it all moved so fast...and then I became the Dream Lord...and never stopped to think about it.
In the tube, the Dream Lord slowly stands, the pool of green liquid collected around his feet. He is deep in thought, remembering what happened two years ago.
Page 21 panel 4
Dream Lord: Wait...wait a minute. Oh no...oh God...
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He suddenly looks surprised as he connects different facts and comes to a realization.
Page 21 panel 5
Closeup of the Dream Lord's shocked face.
Dream Lord: You did it.
Page 21 panel 6
Closeup of Farley, amused at Adams's ramblings, curious to hear what he has to say next.
Dream Lord (off-panel): You made the President's dream.
Farley: Ha ha ha! Dr. Adams, you're not making much sense!
Page 21 panel 7
Dream Lord (pointing at Farley): You gave him the Gordian Nightmare! There was no coincidence! You...needed money, and my Dream Screen! Saving his life guaranteed funding and enabled you to confiscate me! You bastard!
Page 21 panel 8
Farley: Dr. Adams, I think it would be beneficial for you to say as little as possible from now on. Your statements are being recorded and will be used when you are put on trial for your crimes. Attempting to shift the blame onto others will only make you look bad.
Dream Lord (banging on the inside of the tube): Let me out of here! I want to speak to a lawyer!
Page 22 (10 panels)
Page 22 panel 1
Farley turns his back on the Dream Lord and begins walking away into the command center.
Farley: In time. For now, you'll just have to amuse yourself while we process you. Randall, your team can begin testing the specimen.
Randall, a technician, walks briskly to the tube, leading a group of three others.
Randall: Right away, sir.
Dream Lord: Farley! I told you to let me out of here!
Page 22 panel 2
Farley (off-panel): Gantry, sedate him.
Dream Lord: No! You people are crazy--trying to invade and corrupt one of the last true privacies left in the world! I am not going to let you get away with it!
Page 22 panel 3
Dream Lord (shouting, enraged; he is finally rousing from the funk and confusion which have ruled him since the first attack of the Bogeyman--he finally has a clear cause to rally to): Especially not with equipment that I helped to create! Let me out!
Gantry: Triggering sedative gases now.
Page 22 panel 4
A pale pink gas sprays into the glass booth from the ceiling and the floor and the Dream Lord becomes desperate. He beats on the walls and screams.
Dream Lord: Turn it off! Open this damn thing!
Page 22 panel 5
Closeup of the Dream Lord as the gas whirls up around him. He grits his teeth, holds his breath, strains to find some way to escape.
Dream Lord: I am going to stop you. I am going to stop you.
Page 22 panel 6
Another, tighter, closeup--the Dream Lord is more restrained, concentrating, enraged yet exerting every iota of strength to focus on a plan.
Dream Lord (in a whisper, as the gas surrounds him): I...am...going to... stop you.
Gantry: Sedative mixture now 85 percent of tube atmosphere.
Page 22 panel 7
Suddenly, the Dream Lord starts to glow with a red aura.
Dream Lord (silently, desperately straining): I...am...going to...
Gantry: 90 percent mixture.
Page 22 panel 8
The Dream Lord's aura flares brightly, and he flings his head back and screams. Gantry leaps away from the control panel on the tube.
Dream Lord: Stop you!!
Page 22 panel 9
The Dream Lord disappears with a burst of light and a crack. Everyone in the command center is scrambling and watching the tube.
Kochar: He's gone! We've lost him!
Page 22 panel 10
Kochar: Specimen has repenetrated the dimensional envelope! He is returning to alternate space!
Farley (walking back down to observe the empty tube): See if you can drag him back here! Repower the reservoirs and begin retrieval procedures!
Page 23 (8 panels)
Page 23 panel 1
Farley (shouting furiously): I want that son of a bitch!
Page 23 panel 2
With a flash of bright red light, the Dream Lord appears in the Dream Zone, at the same spot he was taken from--Lullaby's refuge of blue sky and fluffy clouds.
Dream Lord (triumphantly): I did it!
Page 23 panel 3
The Dream Lord pauses to wonder at the startling trip, and looks around himself with amazement.
Dream Lord: I...could never do that before! I've always needed the Snooze Tubes...to travel between reality and here. How did I...
Lullaby (off-panel): Don't look a gift horse in the hoof, Dream Lord...
Page 23 panel 4
Lullaby: 'Cause I need some help real bad right now!
Lullaby is looking up at him from a cloud below, where she is surrounded and held by the Night Brigade. Hangover is holding her while Night Terror points some high tech gun at her head. They all look up when they realize that Dream Lord is once again among them.
Night Terror (surprised and angry): Adams! What the hell is going on here?
Page 23 panel 5
Dream Lord (his hands glowing with red energy like the type which surrounded him when he escaped back into the Dream Zone): A surprise party, you sick bastard! Surprises for everybody--for me because of a new power I just discovered, and for you...
Page 23 panel 6
Dream Lord: ...because you're the first person I'm going to use it on! He concentrates and fires a large red bolt of energy at Night Terror.
Page 23 panel 7
Struck by the bolt, Night Terror disappears in a flash of bright red light while his comrades look on.
Night Terror: NOOOOOO!
Catnap: Everybody--get Adams, now!
Lullaby: All right, buster!
Page 23 panel 8
The Dream Lord turns his red bolts of energy on Symbol and Sweet Dream, and they also vanish in bursts of red light. The other Brigaders fly up to attack him.
Hangover drops Lullaby as he races to the battle.
Dream Lord (angry and intense): I've had enough! You people are going to learn that the Dream Zone is not your playground! It is not for you to exploit or corrupt! It is the heritage of all mankind, a universe where everyone who lives or will ever be born can find peace and renewal! There is no "Slumberland!"
Page 24 (9 panels)
Page 24 panel 1
Dream Lord: Get out of here! If you ever return, I will kill you! This place is off-limits!
He hits Coma and Catnap with red beams, just as they are circling him and preparing to attack with their powers. They vanish in bursts of light.
Hangover (off-panel): Man, what a threat, comin' from you! I'm so scared...
Page 24 panel 2
Mr. Sandman Page 11
