The Big O and all of its settings and characters are owned by Cartoon Network, Sunrise, and Bandai Visual. Additional plot, settings and characters are © by Chaosium.
THE BIG O:
ACT 31
DREAMS DARK AND DEADLY
Chapter Four: Pleasant Dreams
Dorothy stared at the large threatening skeleton mounted in the front lobby. What was Allosaurus fragilis, and why did whoever created that sign think it existed over 150 million years ago? The sign was faded, no doubt a copy of the laminated one on the wall that was over forty years old. It was those who lived before everyone lost their Memories who figured out how old the skeleton was, but since no one knew how they calculated its age no one could check their math.
Dorothy strolled over to the west side of the building and found Ellen the housekeeper setting the table in an elegant dining room. "Hello," the little android said quietly.
"Oh, you startled me," the housemaid replied, although she seemed more focused than frightened. "Didn't see you there."
"Dorothy Wayneright," the android introduced herself. "I'm Roger Smith's ward and live-in housekeeper. I usually spend my day doing what you're doing now. Do you need any help?"
"Yes, but it would take too long to show you the routine," the tall blonde smiled. "Don't trouble yourself."
"It's no trouble," Dorothy assured her. "I was looking for something to do. Is it hard now that Nora Pope doesn't work here anymore?"
"Why? Are you looking for a position here?" Ellen joked. "I'd really appreciate it."
"Perhaps I should look into it," Dorothy said. "Did Nora like working here?"
"Actually no," the leggy blonde admitted. "I don't know if the whole 'Dream Research' thing was getting to her. We've all had nightmares but after all that's happened in Paradigm City who doesn't? She didn't really like the boss that much, and our chef gave her the creeps."
"She didn't like Lawrence Winthrop?" Dorothy asked. "He seems pleasant enough."
"He is, but she had mixed feelings about Mister Winthrop," Ellen laughed. "'He's so strange' she once said, "like he's keeping some horrible secret.' No she didn't have a problem with Mister Winthrop; it was Doctor Dandridge she didn't care for. She felt he was a phony."
"How come?" the petite redhead prodded.
"I don't know," Ellen shrugged. "Probably because he's so eager to take charge but so hesitant to actually do anything." She laughed nervously while glancing around. "I guess nobody appreciates the boss no matter who he is," she grinned sheepishly.
"Was there anybody she ever had a hard time with?" Dorothy asked.
"Well, to be honest, she really didn't like Gilbert Manes, our chef, if you know what I mean," Ellen lowered her voice conspiratorially. "She often remarked that there was something fishy about him. I don't think she liked him looking at her when she went swimming in the lake." The blonde glanced at a door where the noise of a kitchen could be heard. "Excuse me; I've got to get back to work."
"I understand, sorry to keep you," Dorothy said as Ellen left the room. She looked at the door to the kitchen for exactly thirty seconds before entering.
Inside the spacious kitchen was a squat homely man with bulging eyes and peeling skin. His balding head was covered with a chef's hat and he wore white clothing to match. He turned his head to stare at the girlish android who intruded on his culinary domain. When it came to staring contests Gilbert Manes was no amateur, but even so, it was he who blinked first. His large fishy eyes surveyed her several times before he finally spoke. "May I help you, Miss? Is there something I can do for you?"
"I'm new here," Dorothy said. "My name is Dorothy Wayneright. I didn't mean to intrude. Will lunch be ready soon?"
"Should be about ten minutes," he smiled uncomfortably.
"Thank you," she bowed her head. "I'll get out of your way now," she added before she turned and left.
The homely chef cracked open the door and watched the girl walk through the dining room with perfect posture and a dainty gait before turning his attention back to the noontime meal.
Later Dorothy was standing out by the lake. On the distant shore she could see Electric City and the hydroelectric dam. The wind rustled through the trees and through her hair and dress as the water lapped up near her shoes.
"You weren't at lunch today," Roger's voice scolded as the black clad young man walked up to her.
"I don't have to eat," she said without turning around, "and I took the opportunity to change."
"So I see," Roger commented as he surveyed her clothing. "That dress looks like the one you wore when we first met doesn't it?"
Dorothy glanced down at the clothes covering her body. The dress was a short sleeved green sundress with a narrow waist and a wide pleated knee-high skirt. A white collar matched the white cuffs the short sleeves that didn't even reach the elbow. Two large white buttons were centered on the blouse but the other four were on the skirt that formed a line down her front. Her pale lavender shoes were the same color as the headband that covered her bangs. The dress gave her an innocent girlish look while at the same time emphasizing her femininity. "I hadn't noticed," she commented dryly. "You liked me in that dress if I remember," she added. "You said that I was 'impressively well built' and a 'mechanical marvel'."
"It looks nice but why the change?" Roger crossed his arms as he surveyed her, "I thought you were happy wearing your normal outfit and besides, it really isn't the right time of year to wear something like this."
"It's customary to wear it after your father's died," Dorothy countered, "but I would hardly describe black as a 'happy' color. I simply wanted to wear something different today and since we aren't spending the night under your roof I assumed that the 'wearing black' rule didn't apply. When we return to Paradigm City I'll be content to dress like the undertaker's daughter if that's what you wish. Did you have a nice lunch?"
"Yes, and I met Lawrence Winthrop," Roger nodded. "A wily old rascal if I ever met one. We had the most bizarre conversation during lunch."
"How so?" Dorothy asked.
"He seemed really interested in asking me questions without answering any," Roger smiled wryly. "He wanted to know all about my past but was charmingly evasive about his own, always politely turning the conversation back to me."
"You're often the same way," Dorothy commented.
"I know," Roger laughed. "That's why I said it was such a bizarre conversation! Both of us trying to find out about the other while trying to give nothing away! Thank goodness Dandridge and the other doctors were there."
"Was Joe Schienfeld there?" the girl asked.
"Yes, and he was no slouch when it came to nosiness!" Roger chuckled. "Unlike poor Winthrop and I he was willing to be obnoxious and willing to talk about himself and his client once and while. Winthrop and I were more interested in getting information than sharing it. I'm not sure that Lawrence Winthrop trusts me."
"Were you able to find out anything about Nora Pope?" Dorothy queried.
"During my interview, Mariana Ivanonva revealed some interesting things to me," he smiled playfully. "It seems that after Nora Pope's breakdown they sent most of their patients back to Paradigm City because their mental health was deteriorating."
"Torrance Dandridge said that their rooms were being fumigated," Dorothy said.
"That's right," Roger nodded. "I didn't expect him to be completely honest with us. That's why I turned on the charm to see what I could get out of Doctor Ivanovna. Deep down, I think she's worried. Apparently, it's not just the patients who've been having problems. Haven't you noticed that everyone here seems tired and overworked despite the fact that we're the only volunteers at the institute? Only one patient is still here. What do they have to be tired about?"
"I don't know," Dorothy replied. "Did you say that we are both volunteers?"
"That's right," Roger nodded. "It might be interesting to let them take a look at your Dreams too. You could find out all sorts of things about yourself. In the meantime I'm going to keep searching the rooms of our hosts and see if I can find any more clues…"
"Roger I don't want strangers to look at my Dreams," Dorothy told him.
"I don't want strangers to look at my dreams either Dorothy, but they're the only ones with the technology," Roger put his hands in his pockets and traced a doodle in the dirt with his shoe. "You're always asking me tricky questions about the human condition. I just thought it would be illuminating to see if the answers are already within you that's all. You don't have to have your dreams recorded by these people if you don't want to, Dorothy. I just thought it would be educational." When she just looked at him coolly he took a deep breath and continued. "Look, if you want to know how your mind works these people can help you. After all the hallucinations I've had I'm really interested in how my mind works. Don't you want to know the same?"
"Will I get to see your Dreams?" Dorothy asked him.
"What?" Roger started. "What are you talking about?"
"Will I get to see your Dreams, Roger Smith?" Dorothy's voice had a slight edge. "It is obvious that you will see mine."
"Dorothy, your Dreams are your creative property," Roger assured her. "They're only for the eyes of you and your therapist. I can only see them if you officially give me permission to."
"You introduced me as your ward," Dorothy pointed out. "That implies that you have legal guardianship over me and my property. In addition you have arrived bearing a large check that the institute could use to continue its research. I have no doubt that you could convince them to let you see my Dreams if you wanted to."
"That's below the belt!" protested a blushing Roger. "Why would I be interested your Dreams anyway? They're probably all in binary!"
"I don't see why not," Dorothy challenged. "You seemed awfully interested in my body last night."
"You left your door open!" Roger shouted. "You left your door open after warning me that people from Paradigm City are disappearing! I thought that something had happened to you! Any normal person would have locked their door if they were afraid that someone was out to get them but you left yours wide open! What did you expect me to do?"
"Behave like a gentleman," Dorothy suggested. "If you're going to stare, you could at least apologize or say something to put me at ease."
"I'm sorry Dorothy, next time I walk in on you by accident I'll prostrate myself at your feet and beg for your forgiveness!" he said sarcastically. "Would that help?"
"It would be a start," she said. It was hard to tell but she could have been smiling.
Roger stared into her eyes for almost half a minute before he broke out laughing. "You are something!" he chuckled. "Had me going. Okay Dorothy, point taken. I'll be more respectful of your privacy if you promise not to complain about me not taking an interest in you. I remember some conversations in the past where it seemed that you resented me giving you too much privacy."
"All good things in moderation," Dorothy conceded. "I may be an ignorant android, but I need to remember that you're only human."
"That's all right, everybody from Paradigm City has problems with Memory," Roger put his arm around her shoulder good-naturedly. "In the meantime, let's find out about our hosts and see if we trust them enough to let them pry into our Dreams shall we?" he added as he turned her around and led her back to the lodge. "We can't put off using the Dreamweb for too long or they might get suspicious."
"Do you really think that there's something going on or is it just paranoia?" Dorothy asked. "Are you just making excuses because you value your privacy or is it because deep down you don't want to know?"
"I don't have an honest answer for that one," Roger admitted. "One of the reasons I brought you along is because I can trust you objectively assess my behavior. Norman would be too polite."
"I shall endeavor to be as brutally honest as possible then," she promised.
"That's my girl," he squeezed her shoulder again. "After your interview with Doctor Ivanovna see if you can use your ingenuous charm to keep our hosts busy so I can go through the rest of their rooms. You can learn all sorts of things about someone by examining their personal quarters."
"I don't recall making an appointment with Doctor Ivanovna," Dorothy murmured.
"See?" he smiled impishly. "I told you that everyone from Paradigm City has problems with Memory!"
Dorothy's impassive face appeared to be frowning.
"Here she is," Roger announced as he ushered the surly android into Doctor Ivanonva's office. "I've filled out most of your paperwork for you," he told the mechanical girl. "Doctor Ivanonva will ask you a few questions and establish your psychological baseline for you. Then anytime you're ready you can use the Dreamweb. Simple huh?"
"You're a louse, Roger Smith," Dorothy's voice was unusually sharp for an android. She was getting better at expressing herself.
"So I've been told," he chuckled. "Well I'll give the two of you some privacy and be back later," he added as he walked away. To be honest, Dorothy's interview was just a smokescreen. Marina Ivanovna's office was in the lab building and Roger wanted a closer look at the Dreamweb before either one of them used it.
Soon Roger was in the monitoring chamber surrounding the heart of the building. Five monitoring stations and two observation areas all had screens, ostensibly for monitoring the dreams of the subject resting in the glassed-in chamber. Roger studied the machinery and it all seemed to do what Dandridge said it did, but until someone went to sleep who would know?
His investigation of the building eventually led him to a flight of stairs to a locked basement door. Rita Maeter, the middle-aged secretary had gone home to Electric City for the night so it wasn't as if anyone was keeping an eye on him.
Roger reached into his jacket and extracted what looked like a huge ball point pen. Pressing his glove onto the large clip caused a narrow strip of metal to spring out in a stiletto-like fashion. He placed the strip into the lock and when he extracted it, the strip of metal was marked with the jagged teeth of a key. Pressing the device back into the keyhole and giving it a sharp twist caused the lock to emit a satisfying 'click' as the door opened.
He found a large room cluttered with conduits, pipes, empty boxes, and a few auxiliary components for the Dreamweb overhead. Roger found a second locked door with a sign posted on it that said:
DREAMWEB CLEAN ROOM
Do Not Enter
Never one to follow someone else's rules, Roger used his stiletto-style lockpick to open this door also.
In the room beyond was a primitive but efficient laboratory set up around a weird device attached to numerous control and monitoring instruments. The device consisted of a ten foot diameter circular platform with a hard transparent surface. Beneath a precise arrangement of glass lenses was visible. Around the platform and attached to it by curving plastic struts were four smooth-edged rectangular consoles. The inner surfaces facing the platform of these consoles were also transparent, revealing more glass lenses within. A duplicate of the platform was suspended from the ceiling and was connected to the four consoles by flinger-thick fiber-optic cables. The device was connected to the Dreamweb itself, but somehow Roger didn't think it was part of the Dreamweb. This was a completely different machine based on the same technology.
A footfall alerted the young investigator to someone creeping up behind him. He looked behind him just in time to see what looked like a wrench heading towards his head. He put his arm up but the blow sent him tumbling onto the circular platform. Fireworks went off in his head and he felt like he was in Ferris wheel spinning at a hundred miles per hour. He made an attempt to stay conscious, but the second blow made the lights go out.
As the world wobbled around before lurching out the door, Roger thought he heard a voice whisper, "Pleasant dreams."
On a desk filled with hourglasses a phone rings. Roger's hand picks up the receiver and a sinister voice says:
Next: Just Fishing