Batch

Last night I had a dream that I was at a beach or something, watching people playing in the ocean, when a warning came in that something had happened to create a huge tidal wave out at sea, and that we would soon be seeing waves hundreds of feet high. They evecuated the beach, of course, and pushed everybody back into the hotel to get their belongings, and then move further inland.

For some reason, though, there were a very large number of us who refused to evacuate any further. I'm in the lobby of this hotel (which is all glass, and stretches several stories high) and I'm watching these huge waves rolling up on shore, and thinking how much fun it might be to try body surfing in them.

Some of the panes of glass aren't fitted very well, and the water just comes pouring into the lobby, and rolling back out again, with 30 and 40 foot waves moving freely through the place. I try to ride on a few, but the waves are just too powerful, and I find myself being dumped in the water, pounded by it, and generally, having a fairly unpleasant time, so I write it off as a bad idea.

I manage to avoid being pulled too far out by the last wave I was in, then rode the crest of the next wave back into the lobby, and managed to grab ahold of a railing near the top of the lobby, and pull myself out of the water. But since the waves are still growing, I start running through the hotel, finding stairs to take me higher and higher.

This has a feeling of New York or something, because there are all sorts of huge buildings, but frequently they are connected by bridges or walkways or something, so I'm able to get as high as I can on one building, then run over to another, even taller building, and start climbing even further. But always, the water is just one step behind.

Eventually, I find myself in the tallest building in the area, and oddly enough, the top three stories of the building are a multi-level shopping mall. I'm on the lowest level, but I want to get to the roof, so I can be at the tallest point in the whole city, and can survive as long as possible, before the water gets me. There is one elevator which actually goes to the roof, but one needs a special key to use it.

I find somebody in mall security who has already been overwelmed by the waves, and I take their key, but annoyingly, I can no longer find the one elevator which will go to the roof. Its getting harder and harder to avoid the waves, as the water is already starting to flood the lowest level of the mall, but I notice that the roof is tiered, and I can actually get out onto it through a window, then run around to another, higher part of the roof.

As I'm just beginning to reach the top of the roof, I see there is a single rescue helicopter waiting to take a few people to safety. I am running for it, and find the helicopter is being piloted by Captain Sheridan of Babylon 5, and they are almost full. Unfortunately, there is only room for one more person aboard, and they make the choice to take Sixx aboard, instead of me. (I swear, I'm not making this up ... I really dreamed it.)

I'm disappointed, but it is their helicopter, and they can make whatever choices they want to, and I acknowledge their right to do so, even as I doubt their wisdom. (And understand, I don't really know Sixx ... I just know the trouble they used to have with him at the Cafe.)

So I'm on the top of the highest roof, and more and more people are joining me, at the highest point we can reach, and we are watching the waves rise higher and higher, realizing we have only a few more minutes before we'll drown.

That's when the flying saucers appear, and start beaming us all up. As they explain they'll be taking us to a new place to live, where we can start our lives over again, they are lecturing us on Ayn Rand's beliefs, and explaining how that is how the new land we're going to is run, and we'd better get used to it. I, of course, am quite happy to hear it.

Once we reach the new land, however, they need people to build the elevators that allow us to get around, and it is dangerous work, since it means climbing around these (currently) empty elevator shafts, preparing them for use. I'm jumping around happily, pleased to find I've got something worthwhile to do.