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Fermius Firefly

A Dream Log, whenever I remember the dreams I've had.

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Location: San Marcos, United States

Fermius is a pen name drawn from a series of short fiction I wrote when I published the small press magazine Stellanova (on paper.) I play RPG games to escape from my daily grind as a technology wage slave for the state of California. I eat out a lot in order to do my part in supporting our increasingly service level economy. I am butler to 2 feline masters. If you ask them they will tell you I'm not very good at it, late with dinner, don't have enough hands with brushes in them, and sometimes I even lock them out of their office.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Frozen Greenhouse, Red Nebula

Woke up with a sore throat. Ugh.

There were airplanes, frozen water on the ceilings, and magical but deadly cloning spiders from another planet. 

The ice on the ceiling was fun, we were in some sort of warehouse sized structure, and the ceiling was supposed to be like that of a greenhouse, all large plexiglass frames to let in the sun to keep the building warm. Only trouble was that the moisture in the building had condensed and then frozen up against the ceiling. 

One of the people with us was trying to take out the ice by shooting a bb gun at it. While that sort of worked, it caused a pretty nasty rain of icicles. I said let me try something, and fired off a small beam of fire. (Like the flame finger spell of old D&D fame.) Everyone, including myself, was surprised that I was able to do it. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to melt very much of the ice. 

"That's going to take forever!"

"Well, I could try something bigger, I suppose."

"Well, do it!"

So, I launched a fireball up at the ceiling. Result was very much a hail of rain and ice in a much larger area. I could see the ice cracking and water flowing from the edges of the hole I made, as the sun's heat started to melt the ice right up against the glass. Now the water ran out  before it could re-freeze, and the entire ice formation began to squeal and groan and crack. 

"Yikes! Too much!" I started shooting frostbolts up at the ceiling, freezing it back in place.

"Yeah, maybe slower is better."


Later on I dreamed I was stopping on another world, but the jump point was oddly far away, stuck in a deep space void with a small dark planetoid and large amounts of thick red debris in a floating disk that was larger in size than the volume taken up by the earth - moon system back home. The only reason there was a jump beacon was the automated ships that mined the rich red material for the valuable minerals that were easy to gather. 

The jump point came up, because from certain spots in the sky, the disk acted like a resonating antenna, making the signal from the beacon appear much closer. Getting to the planet we actually wanted to get to was going to take another series of jumps. I calculated them out, and while this jump had only taken a couple of hours. To navigate away from the place, without being accidentally sucked back here, was going to take us the better part of four days. Which would make us two days late. 

The captain asked me to take the next best likely jumps, despite the risk of being pulled back. I calculated the jumps and we took the first one without incident. Another planetoid world. There were some team members who noticed that there were some notes about dangerous life forms, so being big game hunters, decided to go down to the planet to see for themselves.

They returned several hours before the jump drive had accumulated a full charge, all disappointed in their findings. They tossed a glass container on a couch, it contained a pair of spider like creatures no bigger than a quarter. "That's the biggest thing we found there."

"Should probably dump them back, then. The life forms were listed as dangerous."

"Nah, it's safe enough in there. It'll be a good exhibit for the colony museum."

Since it wasn't my place to say anything, I didn't, but wished they'd killed the things.  I looked at the spiderlike things and asked "Didn't you say 'it's,' " I asked, "there's two of them in there."

One of the hunters picked up the jar and looked at them. "Hunh? could have sworn there was only one in there. Maybe it was pregnant."

Again, I didn't want to say anything, but the two animals looked exactly the same, to me.

I jumped us on the longest leg I'd calculated, waiting until the planetoid was between us and the red nebula before jumping. The jump was far more jittery and turbulent than any I could recall, and in the prolonged buffeting, the jar of spiders was forgotten as folks rushed around to secure suits and weapons where they'd been left laying around. My calculations and jump timing had worked, however rough the ride, we'd arrived at our destination, capacitors nearly depleted. Friends of the hunters on the planet were all too happy to send up a boat for our passengers and their gear. Both the captain and I were happy to see them go. 

It was two days before the capacitors were charged fully enough to make orbit and then to land. When we arrived, the station was in chaos. The customs folks told us to stay buckled up, and to lift off as soon as we could. A lot had changed during the hour long jump from orbital clearance to landing pad. Fortunately I had enough power to take us immediately back up into orbit, so without waiting for the captain, I did.

Now almost three hours had passed, and we were treated to shocking reports. Someone had brought in phase spiders. I watched video of our little spider guests shimmering and then splitting in two, then into four. Then they shifted, and were out of their jar. "I knew we should have killed them in the jar when they came on board."

"We should probably look for a jump to make before they decide to blame us for this disaster."

I agreed with the captain, but the emergency lift off had not left us enough power to make a jump anywhere, unless we wanted to risk a random jump, allowing the strongest available hyperspace signal to grab hold of us and pull us away, natural or beacon. The maps for this part of space were not complete, and there were numerous dangerous natural beacons out there. I started calculating the soonest safe jump we could make while the captain scoured the ship for signs of the phase spiders having escaped before they made it to the colony world. 

I knew the phase spiders worked a bit like our jump drives, having to accumulate power before they shifted, or cloned themselves. I wasn't sure what they lived off of for energy, but their march across the galaxy had been stopped several places by natural beacons dumping them into suns, or onto lifeless planetoids like the one where we'd found them. 

While searching for good jumps, I posted a warning about the planetoid we'd found, hoping it would be upgraded to a red alert/no landing designation. 

I was surprised the big game hunters hadn't recognized the spiders, until word came that one of the hunters had jumped off planet shortly after dropping the specimens off.  I looked at the captain when she came in to see how my calculations were coming. She was armed, and had the pistol pointed at me. 

"We need to jump, now."

"I don't have a safe route."

"Doesn't matter, I'll not be taken captive by Republican Breeders."

In an instant it was clear what was going on. There was a group of people who firmly believed that mankind's reach across the stars was against all the laws of nature and what passed for their religion. Too many worlds, too many possibilities lost, and I suspected, too many places where people were free to believe or not believe as they chose. No matter where we jumped, I figured that I was as good as dead, only the barest shreds of self preservation were left in the captain's soul, and they were all that kept me alive. 

I had wondered that the captain hadn't even a rudimentary grasp of interstellar navigation, but then, lots of rich bored children  had their own ships and were playing star trader with their lives and fortunes. It was, in fact, how I made my living. Yes, I was essentially a chauffeur.

"Spider," I pointed to a spot on the carpet that could have been a spider, even though I knew it wasn't, then while the captain was distracted, started the ship's recorder downloading. A flurry of needles from the pistol blurred the carpet as the spot vanished. What ever one would say about the captain, she had a steady hand. The spot was soon a thick hedgehog of needles. I made a show of looking around the navigation station, as if afraid of another being around. 

I struck the captain as hard as I could, knocking her down in the narrow hallway. Before I could get back into the navigation room to close the door she had rolled over and had the pistol pointed at my face. I slapped the jump button and the ship lurched. Allowing me to slide the door closed as needles buried themselves into the thin but very solid plastic material. I could tell from the motion and turbulence that we were headed right back to the red nebula.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Track Inspector, Sexy Party Guests

Two dreams this morning had memorable elements. In the first I was involved in checking the continuity of a railroad line. I was traveling to the top of a mountain where I set a marble in the indent in the rail. It began to roll down hill, then started picking up speed. 

It had some sort of camera in it that was transmitting back to my iPad. Don't know how that worked, and even wondered about it in the dream. After the marble had rolled several miles, I started down the track after it, a locomotive and a couple of cars not far behind. I knew I would have to get on the train shortly, as it wouldn't be able to keep to just my walking pace on the wet rails further down the mountain.


The second dream featured a lovely dark-haired woman with a navy one-piece leotard with a very sexy tummy and back cutout. She was engaged in a rather pornographic moment with a man who she rubbed to completion, resulting in a jet about six feet long. Her bobbed hair bounced as she turned to me, "still think I'm cute?" She asked.

"Very much so,"  I said as she leaned up against me. That was apparently the right answer.  I had one hand on the smooth tight flesh of her back, and the other on her slightly rounded tummy, where I stroked her through the cutout, following it down to the tops of her soft curly pubic hair. 

Her red full lips made an "Oh," then I bent down and kissed her everywhere her cutout allowed. I could smell her arousal and see the dampness forming between her legs.

"Let's go back to my room," she took my hand and pulled me away from the living room, a long legged, almost too slender woman unfolded herself from where she'd been watching and followed us down the short hallway.  She was in a pink bra and was bottomless, her flushed labia clearly visible through a coppery cloud of pubic fluff. I very much wanted to run my fingers through that hair, but the dream ended all too soon.

I was happy there were no zombies or video game drama for a change.

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Sunday, December 04, 2011

Escaping the Pit

This morning I had what was obviously supposed to be a World Of Warcraft dream. But it was warped to include a crashlanding in a big multi-engined steel skinned aircraft and decidedly non-WoW magical powers.

After the crash I was captured by Orcs and thrown into a pit with a sword and shield to fight other prisoners to the death. I refused, driving the sword deep into the ground and leaning the crappy shield up over the pommel.

They tosses a dirty and beat up looking Gnome woman in with me. We looked at each other across the pit. She sqeaked out an apology and charged at me. Her sword and shield wobbling all over the place. It was obvious that she'd never used either one.

I stepped out of her way and gave her a gentle push as she whirled past, causing her to tumble ass over teacups on the sandy pit floor. She landed, sobbing on the arena floor. I went to her, kneeled across the sword, pinning it to the ground, eased off her helmet and there was the sweetest face I think I have ever seen, bright large blue eyes, filled with tears and fear, green hair and full pouty lips that quivered in terror. I couldn't help myself, I bent down and kissed her full on the lips. “I am not going to hurt you.”

I picked her up and she clung to me, one arm around my shoulder, the one with the shield, and the other clutching my shirt. There was a murmering from the the crown, I am sure that it looked like a man holding a child to most of the gathered Orcs, and that had to be uncomfortable.

Next in the pit was an obviously undead woman. She had no shield, just a pair of wicked looking knives. She turned and spat something fetid at the feet of the Orc who had pushed her into the pit. He jumped back, causing a ripple of laughter from the crowd. She stepped into the ring, walked over to where my sword and shield were stuck in the ground, looked up at the jeering crowd. Then turned to face us, I was holding the Gnome far back, shielding her with my body.

“They are quite angry that you won't fight, aren't they?”

I looked up at the jeering crowd for the first time. They did indeed look angry, angry enough to charge the rim of the pit. “Yes, yes they are.”

“I, for one, take great delight in seeing them angry.” With that, the undead woman spun around with unhuman speed and thrust both of her daggers into the ground next to my sword and shield. “I don't suppose you have a hug for me?” She held out her skeletal arms.

Although she was certainly repulsive, I didn't hesitate but for a split second, shifting the Gnome to a more balanced position, I opened up my other arm and gathered the slender woman to my chest. He cheek barely rested on my shoulder. “Don't expect me to get all teary eyed. They'll send someone in to finish us off soon enough.”

“I wouldn't bet on that.”

A large red drake swooped up out of the canyon and over the rim of the fighting pit. The crowd of orcs scattered. It took some time for the commotion to die down, and eventually a pair of Orcs with long spears came and herded us out of the pit and into a room overlooking the canyon. The only thing in the room was a chamber pot and a sleeping pallet with a thin sheet. It filled the entire floor which is to say the room was small, about the size of a single bed. In highly accented tones one of the guards made a joke about us being lovers so having to share the one bed and pot.

The last two feet of the bed stretched out of the short room onto a ledge overlooking the canyon. The Gnome an the undead woman stepped out to the edge and looked up and then down. “We won't be escaping this way, unless you can fly.”

“Funny thing about that...” I stepped to the edge and dove off, looping through the air and then back to them.

The undead woman looked at me. “Why don't you just go, then, take the Gnome and go?”

“Yes, let's get out of here.” The Gnome pleaded.

“No, we're all getting out, in the morning.”

I managed to fly down and collect a large number of metal pipes and funnels, which I then assembled into a pair of horns, much to the confusion of my cell mates. Finally we laid down to rest, the Gnome tucked under my left arm and curled in tight for warmth, and the undead woman stretched out on my right side, she on top of the covers.

“I don't feel the cold, you use the sheet.” She laid flat on her back, staring up at the sky. It was her who woke us up in the morning. A bunch of Orcs had hung the nose cone of my aircraft over the edge of the cliff above us, and were taking tours, looking down through the windows to see the three of us sleeping together. One of them had dropped a large wooden dildo onto the undead woman's chest. "That way you have one for each. Give us a show!"

They were laughing at us, until the undead woman and I both grinned at them, tossed the wooden object over the side, stage kissed and moved back into the room out of sight. Inside I showed the Gnome how to blow on the makeshift trumpet. We parted it out and they eventually came to poke us back up into the pit. The guards who'd come for us looked around quite a bit trying to figure out where the “Ba ba ba-da, baadum,” sounds had come from. The women actually giggled at them until I shushed them. I didn't want to give the guards any reason to search us.

Once the guards left us I collected the parts of the trumpet and assembled both of them. The gathering crown murmuring over this odd display. I noticed they had gathered all our weapons and shields from the previous day in the center of the ring. and my sword was still stuck halfway into the ground. No one had succeeded in pulling it out. (I had used magic to bury it that deep.)

A fully armored and apparently high ranking Orc stepped to the edge of the fighting pit, looking down on us. “You will pick up your weapons and fight until only one can leave the ring, or none of you will leave the ring!”

“Are you going to come down here and kill us yourself, or are you to much of a coward to face three unarmed captives.”

“There is no honor in killing you.”

“So you plan on starving us to death?”

“No, he'll just send in honorless captives who don't mind killing to execute us.” The Gnomish woman stated.

“Really?” I finished placing the makeshift mouthpiece on my trumpet. “And what if they won't kill us, nor the one after, nor the one after that?”

“Oh, they'll kill us,” the undead woman shifted to watch our backs, and I let the Gnome down to the ground.

The Gnome moved into a defensive crouch, still struggling to assemble her horn. “I sure hope you know what you're doing.” We all shifted into a triangle backs together.

“I knew you would defend yourselves, eventually, you all do.”

“Naturally, but we will not be killing fellow captives today.” I placed the mouthpiece to my lips and started to play. “Ba ba ba-da, baaadump.” The Gnome clapped twice at the end of my call. I played it again, this time, the undead woman joined in. The Gnome finished putting together her small and much higher pitched horn. We played the tune together, and the undead woman clapped, while we both stamped at the end of the tune. I heard the echoes of stamping from the hallways leading into the pit on either side. We played again, and the hallways reverberated with the sound of swords on shields, spear butts on floors and shouts of the final “Baaadum!” The Orc Guards in the pit looked at the doors, then at one another.

The Orc started to look worried under his helmet. After the doors to the pit burst open, and his guards tumbled backwards, pushed down by their charges, he looked positively panicked. But that was nothing compared to the look on his face when he flew down off the edge of the pit to land a few feet in front of me. I climbed out of my makeshift instrument, letting it take the first blow of his mace.

With an odd little twist of my mind, I disarmed the large Orc, stepped up to him, and flat handed him in the center of his breastplate, knocking him onto his back, sand flew from the force of his landing.

“Hold!” I held up my empty hands to stop the advancing gladiators. “We are leaving, and any prisoners who wish may come with me.”

The Orc officer was preparing to make some sort of remark when his eyes widened. He'd seen our rides out of here arrive from the canyon. The orcs in the stands panicked and scrambled over one another to get out. Red Dragons engaged mounted patrols in the sky.

Behind me, dragons landed one by one, then lifted off again with half a dozen prisoners or so on their backs.

I kicked the Pit Master's mace over to him and prepared to defend myself.

I felt a dragon's large toe fall gently, for a dragon, on my right shoulder. “Come, brother, we can leave this place with no bloodshed this day.”

The Pit Master made no move to pick up his mace. I nodded at him, turned, picked up the battered remains of my makeshift trumpet, then shot into the air next to the last drake out. I flew over and landed behind the undead woman and the Gnome.

We wheeled away across the canyon, the air mounted guards giving up chase after only a short distance. I was amazed that there had been no deaths on either side.

In a raspy voice “This doesn't mean I'll sleep with you, you know,” the undead woman quipped with a dry rattling laugh at the end. I noticed that she'd picked up the sinister looking daggers and had them thrust through her sash.

“I will,” the Gnome quietly stated, then played “Ba ba ba-da, baaadump” on her little coronet. Her laughter was like tinkling bells, and I found myself hoping that she wasn't joking.

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