Mapping the Silence of Dreams

by Duane Gundrum

time to think over their plans. The shopping center was as good a place as any for that.

  "Desmi," said John, "we have to get the rest of my gang."

  "Here?" she said. "We can be rulers of this planet. You don't need your gang."

  "There are many powerful people here," he said. "I've seen technology grow since the last time I was able to make the cross over. They have weapons that could wipe us out before we’d see them coming. With my gang, nothing can stop us."

  "But can you control them here?"

  "Of course," he said. "The superior mind is the controlling mind. Power means nothing."

  She nodded. "This Alice woman had a nice body. I'm sure I could get used to it with time."

  He glanced at her. "It is not as beautiful as your real self, but I'm sure this body will be able to use it for our necessary purposes. What did you do to the real Alice in the Dark Lands?"

  "I fed her to the Dark Imps. They haven't had fresh Outsiders for a long time."

  John bit his lower lip. "The Dark Imps? Wasn't that a bit extreme? If you would have killed her, she wouldn't have suffered."

  "She ran from me," said Desmidus. "The Dark Imps will use her soul for their evil pleasure for all eternity. That should remind her of how stupid her decision was."

  He forced a smile. "Remind me never to resist your will."

  She smiled with him. "I constantly do." She grabbed his hand. To anyone else, they looked like two lovers. No one knew that the two of them were evil creatures who might be planning the destruction of the world around them.

  When Fenster finished going over the tape, he couldn't believe what he had just seen. "The Dark Lands?"

  "That's what he said."

  "We have to send him back," said Fenster.

  "But how?"

  "We'll have to go back in and send him back to the Dark Lands."

  "I'm not sure I understand how we can do that. Can't they come and go as they please?"

  He nodded his head yes. "As long as they have control of a body from the outside, there is no way to keep them holed up in the Dark Lands. We have to put them back in the Dark Lands and then kill the body on the outside."

  "You're joking, right?"

  "No, I'm not joking. From what I can tell with my patients, we live in the Outside. These evil creatures must live in the Dark Lands. As long as they have a body to come to, they can escape to the Outside."

  "Why not just find the bodies of these two while they're sleeping? We could kill them and not have to face them."

  "I think that they're safe as long as they're not in the Dark Lands. Once in the Dark Lands, we can destroy the body. If we destroy the body while they're out of the Dark Lands, there's a very good chance they just might grab another body of someone sleeping."

  "I don't understand all of this," said Palmer. "I wasn't trained for any of this."

  "Well, I'm afraid this is about to get worse."

  "What do you mean?"

  "We're going to have to send you in."

  His eyes opened wide. "Not on your life."

  "I can't go in myself," said Fenster. "I'm the only one who knows how to monitor a traveler from the outside. If I go in, I go alone. If you go in, you still have me backing you up."

  "But I'll be alone."

  "It wouldn't be for long."

  "Not for long? You just said that we'd have to force these two into the Dark Lands. That seems like it might take longer than you expect. Why not just wait until we're sure they went into the Dark Lands, and then kill the bodies."

  "Well, first of all, we don't know where they are. We'll have to use the Dark Lands to figure out where their bodies are on the outside. Because of that, we have to have someone who can monitor. That will be my job. Also, it might be possible that there are people who are stuck in the Dark Lands, people whose bodies were stolen by these creatures. If possible, we have to try to bring them back."

  "Who made us the equalizers?"

  "Fate," he said.

  "But I don't want to go in."

  "We don't have a choice," said Fenster.

  "Sure we do. We can go home tonight and forget all about this."

  "Haven't you figured out what's happening? This gunfighter fellow is bringing people out of his realm. He's sure to bring many more. Tonight will be prime time for him to strike again. If we let him, he'll bring an army over here. Go home tonight, and you might become a slave in a week."

  Palmer nodded slowly. "If we succeed, I expect a good recommendation from you when I quit this place. The next job I take will be as a clerk in a Hallmark store."

  What do you see, Harris? said the voice.

  "I just came through a tunnel," he said. Before him, he could see an endless stream of people who were coming out of and entering tunnels. "This must be where everyone enters and leaves dreamland."

  We have to find the Dark Lands. Be careful.

  "You don't have to remind me," said Palmer. He continued forward, walking through a small village. People nodded to him kindly, but a majority of people appeared too interested in their own dreams and paid little attention to him. Once the dreams were selected from the village, the people rushed off to partake in whatever their dreams were for the evening. "This is amazing. I never got this feeling from my regular dreams."

  He continued on, coming to a lone dirt road that stretched off into the distance. No one appeared interested in the road. "This must be it," he said.

  "Hey!" said a voice from behind him. He turned around to see a short man in a business suit. "You don't want to go that way. That leads to the other lands."

  "I want to find the other lands," said Palmer.

  He shook his head no. "We cannot protect you over there. Once out of the blue areas, you are on your own. Most people do not come back from the other lands."

  "I am looking for someone who might be stuck in the other lands," said Palmer.

  The man stared at him for awhile. "Which other land?"

  "The Dark Lands," he said.

  The man shook his head again. "Then your friend is gone forever. Do not make the same mistake with your own life."

  "I must go," said Palmer.

  "Please," said the man. "I am pleading for your own protection."

  Please let him go, said Fenster's voice. The man looked up into the air. "So, you have protection along."

  "Yes," said Palmer. "Please do not delay me any longer. I have a long walk ahead of me, and I may change my mind if I don't leave now."

  "Then go," said the man as he turned away slowly. "But you do not have a long walk. Once you are on the path, you are there."

  Palmer stepped onto the trail and started to walk away from the village. He was only a couple of meters before the sky turned dark. The blue light disappeared and hatred replaced the air before him.

  "I believe I have crossed over," said Palmer.

  Already?

  "Where to now?" said Palmer.

  We must find a village, he said. That was what happened to John Whelan. He found a village where the gunfighter lived.

  "What am I supposed to do once I find someone? I don't think I'm going to be extremely welcome here. And how am I supposed to convince this gunfighter that he needs to tell me where his body is located back in our world?"

  There were no answers to any of his questions. "I thought so," said Palmer as he continued on.

  He came to the first village only a short while later. Walking on the cobblestone streets, he walked to the very first building. Entering through the only door, he found himself in an empty parlor room.

  Where are you?

  "I'm not sure," he said. "I don't see anyone around."

  Try another place, Harris.

  Palmer walked to the next building and entered. When he did, he heard the scream of a woman.

  A scream? What's going on?

  "Shut up!" said Palmer. "Give me a chance to figure out what's g
oing on here."

  He walked deeper into the building and found a corridor where the screaming was coming from. As he came closer, the screaming continued, hoarse this time, but still continuing. Turning the last corner, he found himself facing a young woman who was chained to a stone wall. There were two short creatures standing in front of her.

  Palmer moved slowly, realizing the two creatures didn't know he was in the room with them. As he moved closer, he could tell the two creatures were humanoid in appearance, but their faces had whiskers, and they grunted as they spoke. They were definitely not human.

  What's going on, Harris? The two creatures whirled around at the sound of the booming voice. They saw Palmer and immediately moved towards him.

  "An outsider?" said one of the creatures. "We have awaited the chance to capture one of you on our own."

  Palmer glanced around the room, looking for something he might use in his defense. The woman was on the other side of the creatures, but right next to her was a brazier, a metal rod sticking out from it. Apparently, the two creatures had used the hot metal poker on the woman several times. There were red marks on her face where the flesh had been burnt during the festivities of torture.

  "Surrender and we will make it less horrible on you," said one of the creatures with a smile. "Of course, that won't mean a whole lot to you. Anything we do is horrible."

  The creature lunged at Palmer and was thrown aside by a quick foot sweep from the security man. As the creature fell to the floor, the second one came at Palmer and received a kick in the stomach. Before he could recover, Palmer cracked the man's face with his knee and then threw him into the first creature, knocking the two of them back down to the floor. As they attempted to recover their wits, Palmer ran to the brazier and