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    Hyu's Adventures

    Dystopia

    by
    Hyu
    , 09-16-2014 at 12:28 AM (3485 Views)
    A woman comes to my desk to inform me that the manager would like to see me.
    I get up immediately and begin the long walk to the manager's office.
    I pass by thousands of cubicles, all looking perfectly identical to one another.
    The room is huge. But it's all just cubicles, sitting on a bright white and spotless white floor,
    which slightly reflects what is above it.

    Everyone I pass is wearing the exact same grey suit with white shirt combo.
    Everyone is in shape, everyone has the same hairstyle, the same hair color, even the same eye color.
    No color can be found in here. None whatsoever. Regardless of where you look, it's all white or grey.
    There are no distractions. No family photos, no items on any desk besides a monitor, mouse and keyboard.
    Everyone is working at maximum efficiency.

    Eventually I get to the managers office. A man is leaving the office right as I arrive.
    This confirms that I have been walking at precisely the right pace.
    I enter the office.

    "There has been a problem with your daily psych eval this morning."
    "You are to be at the primary psych facilities in 12 minutes for a more in-depth test."

    "Yes."

    During the exchange, the manager has not even glanced at me once.
    I leave the office, and begin the even longer walk to the psychiatric facilities.
    As I'm walking past all the cubicles again, I notice a woman, who on closer inspection appears
    to be adjusting one of her contact lenses.
    As she gently pokes the grey lens, it moves just enough to reveal that she is hiding beautiful green eyes behind them.

    And this is why my psych test isn't clean. It's because I notice these things.
    It's because I can still occasionally feel emotions.
    You're not supposed to. That's how the system works.
    It's easy to achieve complete obedience and efficiency without emotions.

    I arrive at the office for advanced psychiatric evaluation.
    There is only one such office for the entire facility.
    Tens of thousands of people, yet I'm the only one here.
    I'm the only one who failed the daily eval.
    I enter the office. It is very small.
    It just houses a simple chair and a robot. (who looks suspiciously similar to glados)


    The robot begins to scan me. I try to keep my mind clear of any thoughts.
    But I know that this isn't going to help. I'm going to fail this eval. It is inevitable.
    In order to disable all emotions completely, the cocktail of drugs we receive daily isn't enough.
    Abstinence from all stimuli is also required.
    Which is why there are no colors, no music, no socializing, no hobbies...

    But the system isn't perfect... because I have seen colors. I have heard music.
    I have done so in my dreams. My lucid dreams.
    And although it is said that nobody has dreams anymore due to the drugs, I still do.
    I think it is because I am a lucid dreamer. Nothing can take my dreams from me.

    "Your evaluation is now complete. Return to work."
    "Yes."

    I leave the room, initially thinking that I might have tricked to robot.
    No. It can't be. Someone is probably going to intercept me on the way back.
    This is it then. I suppose it is over for me.
    I don't really feel any emotional reaction to these thoughts at all.
    Perhaps it is the drugs, or maybe I just don't care to live this life any longer.
    A woman stops me.

    "Excuse me?"
    "Yes?"
    "Why are you here?"

    I got lost in thoughts...
    Oh shit. I didn't return to the programming facilities!
    I walked deeper into the psych facilities by accident.
    This is really not supposed to happen. I can't be here.
    And it is so easy to notice that I'm out of place here because they wear different uniforms.

    "What is this?"

    She points to a device attached to my belt...
    It is an old MD player attached to it.

    Not only am I in possession of a musical device. It is also partially red!
    I get a bit of a mirror's edge vibe from it. The forbidden color red, the bright rooms...
    The woman looks very uncomfortable and worried.

    What now? Do I wait for them to come and take me? Do I run?
    No, I can't possibly run. We are all dependant on the drug.
    If I stop taking it, the withdrawal effects will kill me.

    But then it hits me. I'm deep inside the psychiatric facilities.
    This is where they make the drug. It's in the room right in front of me.
    If I had enough of it, could I slowly decrease my dosage over time?
    But that would mean walking into the laboratory, past a hundred scientists,
    take the drug, then run, get out of the building, and survive out there alone?
    I don't even know what the situation outside is.

    But suddenly it becomes clear. I am not me. I am not Hyu.
    Right now I am another person. And this persons plan is to escape today.
    Why else would I have a red music player with me?
    Why else would I have walked deep into the psychiatric facilities?

    "Yes."

    You're always supposed to answer yes, in order to acknowledge what you have been told.
    I gently push the woman aside and enter the laboratory.
    The scientists all look at me. It is so easy to see that I don't belong here at all.
    But they are afraid because this is not part of their daily routine.
    They just resume their work.
    I walk up to the conveyor belt where the finished drug arrives, neatly packaged into futuristic syringes with 100 shots each.

    "HALT!"

    Ah, the cavalry has finally arrived. Took them long enough.
    About a dozen man in full, black, army gear, armed with assault rifles enter the laboratory from the opposite side.
    Aren't they overreacting a little here?

    "SLOWLY STEP AWAY FROM THE CONVEYOR BELT!"

    I wonder what the odds would be to get out of here alive if I ran.
    They are still rather far away. I don't think they have a clean shot from all the way over there.
    But I don't think I could make it.
    My mind is too clouded by the drugs.
    I don't think I could improvise, heck I can't even remember how to run.

    Oh! Of course! That's what the music player is for! Emotional stimuli!
    I inspect the player more closely and find some earphones attached to it.
    I put them on slowly. They don't react to it.
    I hit play.



    Not at all what I was expecting. But it will do.
    I pick up one of the syringes.
    Nope? Still nothing?
    I calmly begin to walk back into the direction I came from.
    They keep yelling at me to stop.
    I increase the volume of my music. Problem solved.
    I mean, what are they going to do? Shoot me?

    Someone attempts to block my passage through the door leading back out of the laboratory.
    I try to push him aside, but he won't let me...
    I need to get out now, so I throw a punch in his general direction.
    I end up hitting them in the nose. There's blood. Lots of it.
    This time I manage to push him aside since he's in shock.

    Holy shit! I just punched someone in the face!
    The guards accelerate their pace. Time to run.
    If I run continuously in the same direction, I'm bound to find an exit right?
    I mean, how big can this building possibly be?
    On the first corner I get rid of my shoes, because they slide way too easily on the polished floor.
    My jacket and shirt quickly follow because they are horribly uncomfortable.
    I feel like the guards are slowly catching up, but fortunately they're not using their weapons.

    After a few minutes of running I feel extremely exhausted.
    I am fairly certain that I have reached the end of the building now, but there is no door.
    I run off to the left, alongside the outer wall.
    There has to be an exit here somewhere... I hope.

    Eventually I encounter some curtains and push through.
    The building looks much more normal here. No shiny white floors anymore.

    I spot a green fire escape sign. Colors! I suppose people are not supposed to come this far.
    Finally a door that looks like it leads outside. Don't be closed...

    I push it open. Fresh air. The sun.

    A spot a ladder that leads down to the ground.
    I'll have to climb over some railing to get to it.
    But the guards catch up with me before I can do so.

    "STOP RIGHT NOW!"

    They could just drag me back inside now.
    There's no longer a need for weapons in order to stop me.
    But I know how to deal with this.
    All I have to do is to point up.
    I do this until everyone is looking up... at the blue sky.
    That leaves them completely in shock and I climb down.

    There's nothing really here, besides that ridiculously large building I was just in.
    No sign of anybody else.
    I just pick a direction at random and walk.
    Nobody is going to come after me now.
    I do realize that I'm most likely not going to make it.
    I don't really have any survival skills.
    But I don't mind, because right now I am more alive than anyone in there will ever be.

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    Comments

    1. JadeGreen's Avatar
      Have you played The Stanley Parable?
      Hyu and spellbee2 like this.
      Updated 09-16-2014 at 12:49 AM by JadeGreen
    2. Hyu's Avatar
      Not yet, but it's on my todo list.
    3. spellbee2's Avatar
      Ha, it's funny you mention The Stanley Parable, I've been watching playthroughs of it.

      This is such an awesome dream. I absolutely love Portal, Mirror's Edge, The Stanley Parable, and games like that, so all of that in one is pretty amazing. Would've been really cool to have been lucid and do some free-running from the cops, or maybe kick some guard butt.
      Hyu likes this.
    4. Trungle's Avatar
      Wow. I definitely see the resemblance to the Stanley Parable in so many ways.