- 00059
-
- Alex procures from a pocket of his trenchcoat a tiny vial.
- On the vial is a small strip of parchment which reads:
- #!/bin/ash
-sleepy=true
-
-sleep() {
- while sleepy; do
- sleep(10)
- done
-}
-
-trap sleep INT EXIT
- He empties the vial into a glass of warm milk and hands it
- to bread.
- “Drink up friend, this’ll relax and soothe you. You’ll
- probably have the best night’s sleep you’ve ever had”
- Over the radio Alex provides a quick reminder to
- Marvelo.
- “7, remember, should you need to wake bread to get us out
- you can interrupt or cancel the sleep script, Ctrl + C should
- work for the disruption work. Or if you need to you can set
- sleepy=false, if it gets crazy and you need to modify the
- metavarbalic properties of the enchantment.”
- Turning to Inky, “Eight bells and all’s well, lets get this
- show on the road”
-
- Bread smiles and thanks you for the milk. They down the
- glass, smack their lips a few times, and wipe their mouth with
- the back of their hand. Their eyelids grow heavy and close,
- and they slump down on the cushions. They’re already asleep by
- the time their head hits the pillow.
-
- Inky nods once at Alex’s words and finishes off their own
- cuppa steeped with calea and thyme, and blended into osmanthus
- matcha. Lucida, Protege, Aware, Perfume. A meaningless
- mantra.
- They glance to their owlish accomplice (who, she will
- remind you, is well-trained and needs no sleeping aid, thank
- you very much, unlike her impish charge) and silently mouth
- the words “Dude 215R” with a wink. Then they settle for a nap,
- chin pillowed on their forearms, which are propped atop
- drawn-up knees. A walking stick rests on their lap. A herb
- bouquet of pink blooms becomes an owl cushion.
- Inky dreamforms of a cream noogle. Puko. And Fuko is, well,
- still Fuko.
-
- You light the Nyxmaer. The flame crackles and dances. It
- smokes darkly, and the scent it gives off is thick and
- heady.
- You breathe deeply of it and settle down to sleep.
- When you open your eyes you are standing on the branch of
- an enormous white tree. It’s as wide as a narrow street. Its
- leaves are silver blades that uncurl in the dappled light from
- below.
- One of the first things you notice is that gravity is
- reversed here. The branches below you reach down, grazing an
- endless sky. Small iridescent jellyfish medusae drift lazily
- far, far below, catching and reflecting the light. And the
- trunk thickens as it reaches up overhead, where its roots
- drill into the ceiling above.
- Because of dream logic, you know that in some way this tree
- represents Kelsun Peak, Bread’s home. And also because of
- dream logic, you know that the branches furthest away from you
- in some way represent the great dragon Lucin who lives deep in
- the mountain. And they are just as dangerous. They sway in the
- breeze and seem to be aware of you, and are for now satisfied
- at the distance you keep from them.
- There is a chipmunk sitting cross-legged before you on the
- branch. It looks curiously up at you and says, “The Red
- Squirrel stole my acorns! Are you going to get them back for
- me?”
- You can feel a metaphysical tug in your gut as your orient
- yourself to dreamspace like the needle of a compass. “Inward”
- you can feel a tug toward Bread’s deep unconscious. To their
- core memories. “Outward” you can feel a tug away from Bread
- toward the shores of the Sea of Dreams, where you may continue
- your journey through the Collective Unconsciousness to the
- pocket dimension of the Wandering Bazaar. You need not move
- physically to travel in either direction. It’s more a matter
- of choosing a destination, and letting the winds blow you in
- that direction.
- “My acorns!” insists the chipmunk, wringing its hands. “The
- Red Squirrel has taken them all! Are you going to help
- me?”
- WHAT DO YOU DO
- ]]>
-
- 
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